The Mystery Shopping thread - part 6

sophisticated.

Did my first mystery shop today and it went well So I'm trying to sort out tax now and I was wondering if someone would mind clarifying a few points for me?

FYI mystery shopping will be my only source of income so I know I won't actually have to pay any tax.

I'm about to print off forms CWF1 and Certificate of Small Earnings Exception to send off as mentioned on the first page. Are these the only forms needed?

I'm confused mainly with the tax return issue. What exactly do they ask you, apart from all the figures etc. Will I need to write down the MS company who paid me AND the client the shop was for? Do I need to keep original receipts for the shops, because I sent off an original today after completing the visit.

I understand the tax return can be done online...do you need special software to do this?

I've read the example on the front page about the income/expenses. These are my costs for today, have I worked this out right?!

Income
Reinbursement: £5.00
Mileage: £2.50
Fee: £3.00

Expenses
Job specific costs: £5.35
Mileage: 12 miles x 0.40: £4.80
1 page printed: 6p

Profit: 29p (how disheartening!) :rotfl:

Obviously the reason why my profit looks so rubbish is because the milage fee was 0.22 for my visit. But the 0.40 is what the HRMC agree you can claim?

Thank you for reading and I'm very sorry for all the questions! I'm just a bit baffled by it all, I thought tax was supposed to be easy.

Becles

If you have no other earnings, I'm assuming you are not paying NI. You might want to reconsider the Small Earnings Certificate.

By paying Class 2 NI (which is around £2.10 a week), it counts towards your state pension and makes you eligble for things like maternity allowance and incapacity benefit should you need it. If you have a small earnings certificate, you only get £27 a week maternity, however by paying NI, I got £112 a week.

The self assessment form only asks for your final figures for the year, rather than a breakdown if your profits are under approx £15K. However, you do need to keep some sort of accounting system showing money coming in and your expenses with receipts etc, just in case you get audited or anything like that.

You can do self assessment on the web with no software. It's all done through HMRC website and you just fill the boxes in. It's not as daunting as it seems!

johnny_c-l

sophisticated - TNS will accept photocopies of receipts if you want to keep the originals for your records

ruthiejane

Back in January when I first started MS I registered as self-employed. I've been keeping all my records. I've not had a self-assessment form from the tax office yet for 2007-2008, though my oh who has been self employed for years has done his. Should I phone and see what has happened, or would it not have arrived yet?

daydreambeliever_3

Does anyone know if RE are open on Saturdays?
I've just phoned them but it's a recorded message saying the office is closed but doesn't give opening times.
I'm filling in a questionaire but one of the questions is a bit ambiguous.

tigergold

Do not think they r open, pm me if u like and i'll try and help.
I've just seen the time, i'm leaving in a bit.
I would say answer as best you can and if they have a query they will contact you. You can tell them you found the question unclear.

Also - just booked a gap pizza job, they have made the instruction much clearer now even telling you if you order certain items it will cost you £x.xx at your own cost.

ThinkingOfLinking

Occasionally, RE are open on Sats but generally not. I can also try and help if you want to PM me.

daydreambeliever_3

Thanks FE, I'll PM you.

josie

sophisticated. wrote: »

Did my first mystery shop today and it went well So I'm trying to sort out tax now and I was wondering if someone would mind clarifying a few points for me?

FYI mystery shopping will be my only source of income so I know I won't actually have to pay any tax.

I'm about to print off forms CWF1 and Certificate of Small Earnings Exception to send off as mentioned on the first page. Are these the only forms needed?

I'm confused mainly with the tax return issue. What exactly do they ask you, apart from all the figures etc. Will I need to write down the MS company who paid me AND the client the shop was for? Do I need to keep original receipts for the shops, because I sent off an original today after completing the visit.

I understand the tax return can be done online...do you need special software to do this?

I've read the example on the front page about the income/expenses. These are my costs for today, have I worked this out right?!

Income
Reinbursement: £5.00
Mileage: £2.50
Fee: £3.00

Expenses
Job specific costs: £5.35
Mileage: 12 miles x 0.40: £4.80
1 page printed: 6p

Profit: 29p (how disheartening!) :rotfl:

Obviously the reason why my profit looks so rubbish is because the milage fee was 0.22 for my visit. But the 0.40 is what the HRMC agree you can claim?

Thank you for reading and I'm very sorry for all the questions! I'm just a bit baffled by it all, I thought tax was supposed to be easy.

You don't need your original receipts for your tax return, just total expenditure and reimbursement.

If you choose the right jobs (which for me is a "free" meal or something that I would buy anyway - stamps, groceries etc.) then you're going to get more out of it than maybe just an enquiry job with a low fee.

I wouldn't be disheartened at all that your "profit" (on paper anyway) is so low, because hopefully you've bought something that you'll use and not had to pay for, as well as a small fee. That's exactly how I like my paper profit to be - tiny = minimal tax to pay! :j or even better a paper loss! I'm surprised tho' that you only had to print one sheet? Maybe you felt confident enough not to print everything off.

I can email you my spreadsheet that I use to keep track of the above, but it really does look just like how you've totalled it here, with a couple of formulae in it for adding and multiplying things to save you doing it for each job.

I don't think you need any special software to complete your tax return online - they have stressed how easy it is, so assume it is just an online form to fill in. All you'll need is, at the end of the tax year, a figure for expenses and one for income (which includes reimbursement). This will require you to keep track of everything tho and it's much easier to do this as you go along and then it's less of a job to tackle at year end.

You don't need to state who paid you, nor which clients you shop for (that's confidential remember!;) )

HTH - do shout up if there's anything else, tho as we're a friendly bunch on here on the whole!

pebblespop

did my first job today with re - it was a pharmacy one. i checked the notes yesterday and it was still saying i could buy anything. i was very embarrased as i had to ask a silly question - i am sure some others on here had to do it - the pharmacist looked shocked when i told him the probem had been going on for two weeks!! i am surprised he didn't call an ambulance!!!

it was quite fun but the questionaire took ages!!!