Taxable vouchers?

sunshine124

Hi all,

Ok I have posted this question on a couple of threads, however, I haven't got a straight answer yet. PLease can anyone help me,

Are vouchers earned from survey sites taxable? e.g love2shop, boots, lucheon vouchers etc?

I would be soo greatful if anyone could give me a straight answer or any help.

Many thanks.

anniecave

It's my understanding that vouchers aren't taxable

Sites that pay you in paypal or funds directly to your bank account however would be taxable (although some people think if you don't earn more than £50 or so in any tax year from such sites then the tax people wouldn't worry if you didn't declare it!)

I've noticed that sites that give vouchers use the word "reward", whereas ones that pay out cash use the term "earn". I'm not sure if every website is consistent with this, but i've noticed this amongst the ones I've used.

sunshine124

Thx for the reply so should I be safe in thinking that I don't have to declare my vouchers to hmrc?

KieranB

I cant see any reason why they technically should be tax free. I am quite sure it should be taxed although i would estimate more than 99.9% of people do not. I am almost certain HMRC will not bother tryng to make you pay tax on vouchers you earned from cashback sites and even if they did you could offset it against your broadband costs and therefore have no tax due anyway.

A similar example would be if I were to do some part time work for a company and they offered to pay me in regards to their good/services, this should be claimed too.

sunshine124

Ok so now I am confused again

KieranB

Look a these two scenarios:

1)If your mate asked you to go to the shop and pick up a new TV for £195 and he gave you £200 and said keep the change. Would you declare that?

2)If you got a £5 shop voucher for participating in a couple of online surveys. Would you declare that?

Both should have the same answer..

I cannot not tell you to ignore this miniscule form of income however I feel it is necessary to bring it to your attention that the vast majority of people would not declare the vouchers as income.

sunshine124

OK kieranB I take your point and thx for the reply.

The only thing that gets me thinking is that when the company gives out the vouchers then at the end of the year when they make their accounts, then doesn't the company have to give information on all their 'clients' who they give the vouchers too?

anniecave

hm .. I've just been doing a quick internet search, and now I'm not so sure!

It would appear that they are taxable, but everyone in practice tends to turn a blind eye as the amounts are so low. HMRC aren't likely to get worried about tax on £10 or £20 of vouchers as that would only be a small amount of tax.

sunshine124

Hello again,

Ok I agree that £10-£20 in vouchers is a low amount but what if you get about £100 of vouchers in a given year? Isn't that a high amount?

tyllwyd

[This is with a big warning that I am not in any way qualified to give any tax advice at all!!]

My understanding was that there was a difference between cashback type situations (where you buy something and get some money back), which are not taxable, and vouchers which you get in return for doing something like a mystery shop, survey etc, which are.

I think it is a grey area, because HMRC won't turn around and tell you outright not to declare taxable income, but on the other hand it is not going to be worth their while chasing a few pounds worth of tax.

If you are earning a substantial amount from things like mystery shopping, you will need to register as self-employed (within 3 months of starting your self-employment), and do a self-assessment tax return. But of course when you do your return you could claim for any legitimate expenses, so a suitable proportion of things like broadband costs.

If the money is from writing opinions on the review sites like Ciao and Dooyoo, I think it is a royalty and again, strictly should be on your tax return.

tyllwyd

sunshine124 wrote: »

The only thing that gets me thinking is that when the company gives out the vouchers then at the end of the year when they make their accounts, then doesn't the company have to give information on all their 'clients' who they give the vouchers too?

It is possible - I know that I work in an industry where there are a lot of freelance workers, and one year HMRC contacted the company I worked for and asked for a list of people who had been paid over a certain amount of money for freelance work in the past year. Mind you, that would have been a lot more than the odd voucher here and there.