Tax Return for mystery shopping - This can't be right!

Clippyjo

Hi All,


Hope everyone is well. Was wondering if you could help a rather confused and fluey me.

In May 2008 I decided to try my hand at Mystery shopping. I did three jobs and thats it.
Just completed my tax return online to the point of calculation.
I put in my employment pages my full time job and then the mysteryshopping as self-employed.
My earnings from this were
Business income: £ 38.00 Total allowable expenses: £ 32.00 Profit or Loss: £ 6.00 Capital allowances: £ 0.00 Balancing charges: £ 0.00 Adjustments: £ 0.00 Adjusted profit or loss (before any set-offs): £ 6.00 I also have a full time job so am expecting to be charged around 20% yet when it comes to the summery page I own £26.00 tax.

That can't be right surely. I'm making a loss of £20!

Any thoughts or advice onn where I may have gone wrong, If I have?

Cheers

jo
-x-

glider3560

I assume there is tax owing somewhere else (perhaps from your employment).

Can you post the figures for your job and any other income you've received.

Clippyjo

Info removed

fengirl_2

The tax due on your self employment is £2. I wonder if you have completed the employed pages correctly?
Why did you register as self employed for this tiny amount of income? HMRC would never be interested in this level of tax.

Mikeyorks

Clippyjo wrote: »

Here's the info on my P60

I don't think you have 'gone wrong'. It's all due to the Student Loan. When you're paid monthly it's calculated as 9% on everything above £1250pm (ie £15000pa / 12).

But - you must have had some slightly inconsistent months - and the SA calculation will re-work that and simply take 9% above £15000. Which results (this on salary only) in £839 being due ....... which is £24 more than the £815 deducted.

If you add £2 for the mystery shopping to the £24 - that's your £26?

http://www.listentotaxman.com/index.php?c=1&yr=2008&student=1&age=0&add=0&code=&pension=0&time=1&ingr=24325&vw%5B%5D=yr&vw%5B%5D=mth&vw%5B%5D=wk

Clippyjo

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies.


Jo
xxx

fengirl_2

There is no legal requirement to register as self employed if there is no liability to NIC, which there is not. No wonder everyone has to wait ages for their tax affiars to be dealt with if the system is clogged up with people earning £10 a year on odd bits and pieces!

glider3560

A simple letter to HMRC stating that you'd earnt £6.00 would have been alright. They'd either never ask you to pay the tax (as it is so low) or just lower your tax code for next year by £6. Self Assessment is a bit over the top for such a small amount!

Clippyjo

Just followed the guidence on the mystery shopping thread....

fengirl_2

Which goes to show you don't believe everything you read on the internet!

Clippyjo

This site provides helpful and accurate advice to people on a daily basis.
I do not believe everything I read on the internet but trust this site (especially the user guides from the experts) to give me correct and accurate information.

The thread I refer to http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2155793

States clearly that
"If you wish to start Mystery Shopping on a self employed basis, even just one job, you need to register with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) within 3 months or you could face a fine of £100. Please don’t think that because you’ll potentially only earn a few quid doing MSing that you needn’t register as self employed – it’s absolutely essential that you do as being caught out can be costly. The admin work involved in being self employed is so minimal that it’s not worth avoiding - and we're here to help you do it!"

If you believe any of the information in the guides is incorrect then I would request that you contact the admin to get this amended so other users can benifit from this.

Many Thanks