The Mystery Shopping Thread - X

BargainAholic_2

Hiya All, I did a car job at the weekend & it was really good, I enjoyed it. But I now have the option of doing a circuit of 8 cars, bit nervous about doing 8 though..

has anyone done this many & is is worth the money?

Thx

MO2

Another quiet disappointing day for me – And what’s I am getting at the end of the day, yes you guess it correctly “another bag full of crap jobs from RE”:eek::mad::D

xxisabellexx

glitterjunkie wrote: »

Hey everyone, hope you're all happily MS'ing away!

I've got a bit of a dilemma - any help appreciated! I live and work in Town A, and usually do all my MS'ing here. However I've recently started a new course at uni in Town B, 70 miles away (140 mile round trip). It's only 1 day a week so I'm still living at home in Town A, just commuting to Town B on a Wednesday to go to my classes and coming home again that night. I'm going to try and do the odd MS job while I'm in Town B - not many, just the odd burger or sandwich so I can have a free lunch. My question is, how should I declare this for tax? Can I put 140 miles as my mileage for those jobs, or is that just ridiculous? I don't live in Town B, and I do have to travel those 140 miles to get there and do whatever MS I'm doing, and pay for petrol etc - but obviously I'm only doing the MS because I'm going there for uni anyway, not the other way round!

It would make a brilliant paper loss if I could count it but just a bit worried that if the tax people ever do ask to see my spreadsheets, would they question why I'm travelling 140 miles for a burger?! lol. Any advice appreciated x

Any advice appreciated!

Hey, I'm in a similar situation, I'm starting back at uni two days a week at a uni 50 miles away from home next week and was thinking the same thing.
However, I asked on here a while ago about something similar in that my boyfriend was living quite a way away and I was MSing when I went to see him. I got the advice that HMRC don't need to know you are going to Uni in town B and not just MSing there. Its none of their business. For all they know (or care?) you are going to get a burger and just happen to be going to uni at the same time.
I think that's right, thats how I interpreted the advice I was given when I asked.
Good luck with the commute anyway, I know I'm not looking forward to it but hoping being able to MS in two cities will offset the cost!

Mumof2_2

BargainAholic wrote: »

Hiya All, I did a car job at the weekend & it was really good, I enjoyed it. But I now have the option of doing a circuit of 8 cars, bit nervous about doing 8 though..

has anyone done this many & is is worth the money?

Thx

I did my first car jobs last week and really enjoyed them too - they're not half as bad as you think are they.

I think if it was me and I had, say, 4 days to do them in, then I'd go for it but of course I don't know the timescales you have. I did 3 in one day on Friday; and it was perfectly doable.

Good luck if you decide to do it !

Trying_to_be_good

xxisabellexx wrote: »

I got the advice that HMRC don't need to know you are going to Uni in town B and not just MSing there. Its none of their business. For all they know (or care?) you are going to get a burger and just happen to be going to uni at the same time.
I think that's right, thats how I interpreted the advice I was given when I asked.

In order to claim an expense as a business expense it has to be incurred WHOLLY AND EXCLUSIVELY for business purposes - I would say that in both these cases the business is incidental to the journey, not the purpose of the journey. So, when I mystery shop when I'm travelling to see my husband (who works away in the military), I claim the distance from his house to the job (i.e. a few miles), not the extra 170 mile round trip from my house.

Obviously it's your decision what you claim, but if asked to sunstantiate that the whole trip was for an MS lunch, I think I'd struggle!

Hope this helps

ukmonkey

glitterjunkie wrote: »

Hey everyone, hope you're all happily MS'ing away!

I've got a bit of a dilemma - any help appreciated! I live and work in Town A, and usually do all my MS'ing here. However I've recently started a new course at uni in Town B, 70 miles away (140 mile round trip). It's only 1 day a week so I'm still living at home in Town A, just commuting to Town B on a Wednesday to go to my classes and coming home again that night. I'm going to try and do the odd MS job while I'm in Town B - not many, just the odd burger or sandwich so I can have a free lunch. My question is, how should I declare this for tax? Can I put 140 miles as my mileage for those jobs, or is that just ridiculous? I don't live in Town B, and I do have to travel those 140 miles to get there and do whatever MS I'm doing, and pay for petrol etc - but obviously I'm only doing the MS because I'm going there for uni anyway, not the other way round!

It would make a brilliant paper loss if I could count it but just a bit worried that if the tax people ever do ask to see my spreadsheets, would they question why I'm travelling 140 miles for a burger?! lol. Any advice appreciated x

Any advice appreciated!

Whilst we can't be seen to be discusing tax evasion, would the tax man know you're on a course?

I think you know the answer

BargainAholic_2

Mumof2 wrote: »

I did my first car jobs last week and really enjoyed them too - they're not half as bad as you think are they.

I think if it was me and I had, say, 4 days to do them in, then I'd go for it but of course I don't know the timescales you have. I did 3 in one day on Friday; and it was perfectly doable.

Good luck if you decide to do it !

No I really enjoyed spending the £19k! Its a good feeling. I intitially decided to do the 8 circuit, but then realised it had to be done by Friday so I've had to pull out. Its a shame really cuz I'd started to look forward to doing them

Oh well, maybe next time

ukmonkey

Guys, I had a call from my local tax office's advice team today. Apparently they do courses for self-employed people and people. I've had a look online and found this:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/bst/index.htm

Specifically this: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/event?topicId=1073858808&r.lc=en&r.s=el

I thought this may interest some of you.

ukmonkey

BargainAholic wrote: »

Hiya All, I did a car job at the weekend & it was really good, I enjoyed it. But I now have the option of doing a circuit of 8 cars, bit nervous about doing 8 though..

has anyone done this many & is is worth the money?

Thx

I once did 10 in the same day (or was it 11, hmm...).

I did have to be at the first one literally minutes after they opened though, and the pressure was intense during the late afternoon. I did it though, and got good scores on my reports. I took notes throughout, and filled in the reports (that I'd printed out) in between jobs so I didn't forget stuff, or get mixed up.

Drea2904

mysterious_girl wrote: »

Well I hope you realise it's you who's going to get the sack for that. Not them. :eek:

I do actually yes!! but I reported as I found, I received good service, felt sorry for the girl actually but hey ho done most in Glasgow now anyway.