i have recieved a p46 form for mystery shopping

redballoon_2

what is a p46?

duncans-mum_2

On the inland revenue website, it says a P46 is a form the employer has to send to the Inland Revenue if the employee is unable to produce a P45 (that has details of your earnings etc) I don't know anything about mystery shopping and if you should pay tax (it is another income I guess). Put inland revenue into Google and put P46 into the search, it will give you more in depth detail than I have. Others will be along shortly I'm sure who "Do" mystery shopping to see if they have also had this.

woohoo_postingid

Isn't a P46 an end of year statement showing how much you have earnt and paid in tax/ni etc in that employment.

I get one every year

kevin_M

no end of year earnings is a p60

p45 is what u get from an employer when u finish with em

p46 is if you dont have a p45 to give your new employer so they can get your tax code

susank

If you have just started with them - they need you to fill in and they will sent to IR to verify tax payments to be taken off wages you get and get a tax code as stated above - Otherwise you should not have to fill one in. It is quite normal if you cannot provide them with a P45 when you start a new job.

Loopy_Laura_2

I work in recruitment and we get all our temps to do a p46, more often then not they are employed by a few different agencies so don't have a p45. It's just to make sure you are on the right tax code and paying enough National Insurance/Tax. If this mystery shoppiing isn't your main income then you need to use option 'N'....just basically means that it isn't your only or main job. If it is your main job then use option 'B'.

If you have a main job which is your main source of income, make sure you don't change the mystery shopping job as your main source of income (sorry starting to waffle) as they will change your tax codes around and end up paying more tax on your main job!

Example.....My main job my tax code is 503L as it is the main source of my income so taxed accordingly at the standard 22%. I am also registered with a mystery shop company and my tax code with them in BR (Basic Rate - 33%) so I pay higher tax on those earnings. If it got to the end of the financial year and I paid too much tax via the mystery shop company then I would get a rebate.

Sorry for the waffle but hope that explains a bit!

Ebany

If you have a full time job then you will NOT want to send them the P46 - each year you get a certain amount of your income tax free, but to make things simple for the people working these things out, this allowance can only be used by one employer, hence why it is asking if this will be/is you main job. If you have a regular, full time job, and you send the mystery shopping company a P46 they will take ALL your allowance to offset against your pay from them. I don't know how much mystery shopping you plan to do, but you would have to earn about £5,000 from them in a year for this to be worthwhile. I know I don't expect to make that much!

If you don't send it back it just means they put you on Basic Rate tax with them (ie you pay 22% on all your earnings) which makes much more sense if you have an alternative, higher income.

They did this to me and I thought it was rather off the way they just tell you to sign it and send it back without explaining what it is. I sent a note back with mine explaining why I didnt fill it in. Luckily I know a lot about these forms as I work in a temp agency and we use them a lot for our candidates.

If anyone has just realised they completed one when they shouldnt have, check your tax code from your main employer - it should be on your playslip. If it says 'BR' then ask your HR dept for a P46 and they can take your tax allowance back again. The mystery shopping company will then be told by the Inland Revenue to put you on Basic Rate tax.

dipsy2006

Hi Redballoon

I work in payroll and can confirm that you do need to complete the P46. Make sure you tick the relevant box A, B or C - if you have another job aswell as this one, you will need to tick box C.

The mystery shopping company will then send the P46 to the Inland Revenue advising which tax code they are using for you ( we automatically use Basic Rate - 22% but I don't know if it is different at other companies???) and then the IR will then send them a notice advising which tax code you should be on.

Hope this helps.
Dipsy x

Ebany

Hmm, yes, looking at one of the new P46 forms it does have the option for 'I have another job' in option C (I'm sure it used to just say 'I receive a pension'), but equally they should put you on Basic Rate tax if you don't return one, as thats the standard setup (on the basis that this way you are unlikely to pay less tax than you should, and thats the way they like it).

I would assume that our payroll department would have mentioned it to us if we needed to get one of these from every single one of our temps (though that may be assuming too much...)