The Mystery Shopping thread - IX

Mes1214

Just booked my local music store on RE and the number of jobs available has gone from 114 to 52!

GemzyKate

Oh that's better than I expected. Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated! :j

IlonaRN

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

The other thing that confused me was that the Tax office bloke said I should tell them this job is my only employment since April. As if he expected me to stop being self employed - and to have used a time machine to go back and stop being self employed before I started the new job.

When I fill out my next self assessment form, do I still need to list income from the job, even though that will have been taxed through PAYE? Also, what are the downsides, am I going to find MSing is not worth it if I suddenly have to pay tax on this (generally less than minimum wage) occupation??

My impression is that you should say this new job is your only employment since April, since it is the only job for which you are employed by others.
You will then have to put the income from the part-time job on your tax return for this year when you complete it. This allows the tax office to know that you have already paid tax on some income (from your part-time job), and that you need to only pay tax on the income from self-employed work.
The man at the tax office isn't counting self-employed when he talks about employment. After all, you might not make any money at all from self-employed work!

The above is my impression from what I've read. I am employed elsewhere and do self-employed work (MSing) also.

cte1111

creaker wrote: »

Has anyone done the audits before on ESA? how are they?

I did one last week. I had to make my own list of the items to check, and consult it during my visit, as there were lots of similar items in the store, and there was no way I could remember them all. Might be worth making a note on your mobile, as that would look inconspicuous.

Fortunately I was auditing a big computer shop, that last time I visited I had to chase staff members round the store to get service, so they couldn't care less about me wandering around for ages. I think they find women with buggies to be invisible, which suits me when I am MSing. (The manager also challenged my last MS for them as it was so awful, fortunately not the same branch that I was auditing.)

Lots of the items were not displayed at all, I eventually asked a staff member and apparently they keep them all out back. They then went and got one, thinking that I was going to buy it! I said that I was just looking at the prices and carried on browsing. :cool:

But it was fine really, nice for a change.

Scaredy_Cat_3

IlonaRN wrote: »

My impression is that you should say this new job is your only employment since April, since it is the only job for which you are employed by others.
You will then have to put the income from the part-time job on your tax return for this year when you complete it. This allows the tax office to know that you have already paid tax on some income (from your part-time job), and that you need to only pay tax on the income from self-employed work.
The man at the tax office isn't counting self-employed when he talks about employment. After all, you might not make any money at all from self-employed work!

The above is my impression from what I've read. I am employed elsewhere and do self-employed work (MSing) also.

Actually, I think it might be a good thing to NOT make much money... or indeed to make a small loss .... which is why I was asking how other people manage. Up til now MSing was my only income so I was waaaaaaaayy under the tax threshold, but now I'm a bit peeved at having to hand over money to the government at the end of the year (mind you, I suppose someone has to keep those poorly paid MPs in their second homes )

ukmonkey

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

Please can I ask for some advice from the tax experts out there and also from the people who do MSing in addition to having a 'proper' job?

I've recently started a part time job and I'm being taxed on the emergency code BR. I've just rang the tax office and they won't do anything this week due to a nationwide update of their systems... :eek: Impressive, eh?! (I think it was the wrong type of snow on the server, or something ) Anyway, I was told to ring back next week and tell them that this new job (which they currently have listed as my secondary employment) is my main employment and then they will put me on code 647L. He said I should tell them this is my only employment since April (I assume he means because of the tax year).

The man on the phone wasn't very friendly so I didn't feel comfortable asking any more... but I really don't understand what the implications are? I don't want to give up MSing altogether but I don't know how to declare income from MSing (via my self assessment form?) at the same time as paying PAYE from my 'proper' job. Can anyone make it simple for me please?

I reckon you need to fill in a P46 form for your new (main) employment.

I had to this a couple of times when I was younger when I had a 2nd job.

cte1111

TNS have just told me that I've been successful in my application with them, which is good news. And I only applied a day or two ago, so looks like they are processing applications more quickly than before. Hopefully there will be some jobs available by the time my account and id code are available, it says this will take 2-3 days.

KaramelRose

cte1111 wrote: »

TNS have just told me that I've been successful in my application with them, which is good news. And I only applied a day or two ago, so looks like they are processing applications more quickly than before. Hopefully there will be some jobs available by the time my account and id code are available, it says this will take 2-3 days.

DITTO!
Ha ha. I was just coming to post the exact same thing. I applied Sunday night (I thought I'd applied before but hadn't completed the final stage of application) and was SO pleased to get the email today.

Roll on getting my account details through! I'm hoping to pick up some of the young people alcohol test purchase ones. = )

aplaceinthesun

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

They Audience say:

Gapbuster - 0.5%
Retail Eyes - 99%
Grass Roots - 0.5%

Good old audience , they are nearly always right ! :rotfl::T

SC - re the P46 from my recollections of doing payroll (which I havent done for sometime I must add) is that they cant use your P45 if it is from a previous tax year , hence you will have to complete a P46 as your employment with them has started within this tax year, they will automatically have to BR you as they have no knowledge of what your tax code for this year should be and cannot apply a code without a current year and valid P45 or notification from the tax office.

cte1111

I have just received 4 lovely envelopes from the company that likes to pay in an unusual way today. Petrol ones they are.