MYSTERY SHOPPING THREAD 17 - please don't mention client names or fees on here!!

beckalinha

Probably not worth an alert but the December burgers have premiums on them now - for those who wait for those fees to creep up towards the end of the month!

jen_br

Its not grey at all you are missing the point.. let me try to explain this very simply and how (my accountant has been doing my books for the last 6 years)

Ok say you are going to Bubba Gumps (made up names and fees) and the assignment is to eat there and write a report on the food and service... You can have up to 25.00 as your expenses and 20.00 for a fee..

You record 45.00 on income and under expenses you write 25.00 for the meal + travel+ printing+ etc etc. so lets say after that job the fee is 45.00 your expenses were 40.00 you would walk away with 5.00 profit.. the 5.00 is taxable

If your going to Bubba Gumps Burger bar and are told to order combo number 5 which comes to 20.00 and you get a fee of 10.00 you would again record 30.00 income.... minus your expenses lets say they come to 37.00 so you now have a loss of 7.00 this is what the tax man will see. So you don't pay any tax on a loss.

My accountant has always said as long as you are purchasing what is required ie. combo number 5 because you are reporting on the taste etc that is an expense (no different then a restaurant critic) but you still have to record it.

Make sense?

jen_br

Example 2. Lets say you went to Bubba Gumps and the fee was 10.00 and you were asked to spend 5.00 but you spent 15.00 you could only claim the 5.00 that you were asked to spend as an expense.

nehpets81

jen_br wrote: »

Its not grey at all you are missing the point.. let me try to explain this very simply and how (my accountant has been doing my books for the last 6 years)

Ok say you are going to Bubba Gumps (made up names and fees) and the assignment is to eat there and write a report on the food and service... You can have up to 25.00 as your expenses and 20.00 for a fee..

You record 45.00 on income and under expenses you write 25.00 for the meal + travel+ printing+ etc etc. so lets say after that job the fee is 45.00 your expenses were 40.00 you would walk away with 5.00 profit.. the 5.00 is taxable

If your going to Bubba Gumps Burger bar and are told to order combo number 5 which comes to 20.00 and you get a fee of 10.00 you would again record 30.00 income.... minus your expenses lets say they come to 37.00 so you now have a loss of 7.00 this is what the tax man will see. So you don't pay any tax on a loss.

My accountant has always said as long as you are purchasing what is required ie. combo number 5 because you are reporting on the taste etc that is an expense (no different then a restaurant critic) but you still have to record it.

Make sense?

Sorry, I might be being dense here but it doesn't really make total sense to me, and there do appear to be grey areas. If you are making a loss on the job then you can't argue your doing it for the fee then you are benefiting from eating that delicious Bubba Gumps burger and therefore surely this is a taxable benefit in kind? Obviously your accountant is more knowledgeable on this so I need to get my head round it and make sure I am doing my returns properly.

jen_br

I own a bed and breakfast... every year I make a loss.... it doesn't mean im doing it out of the goodness of my heart but sometimes what I need for the B&B like beds, bedding, food, etc is more then what I earn. (oh and what salary my husband draws etc)

therefore Im not earning a profit... so im not paying tax on it as there is nothing to pay tax on.

Benefit in Kind is more to do with Lets say You work for Bubba Gumps Burgers and you are an awesome employee so they give you a car and free fuel to use (and this includes private fuel) therefore you need to pay tax on that.

nehpets81

jen_br wrote: »

I own a bed and breakfast... every year I make a loss.... it doesn't mean im doing it out of the goodness of my heart but sometimes what I need for the B&B like beds, bedding, food, etc is more then what I earn. (oh and what salary my husband draws etc)

therefore Im not earning a profit... so im not paying tax on it as there is nothing to pay tax on.

I sort of see what you are saying here - the purpose of you keeping your B&B running at a loss is presumably to earn money in the future, and yes, with some MS jobs that you do at a loss will be in the hope of obtaining more lucrative jobs in the future so yes, I see how this can be a tax write off but this is not always the case, especially with RE jobs. If you do a no fee, high reimbursement job and get, say £20 to spend on clothes but no fee - surely that £20 of free clothes IS the profit and should be taxed as such?

The_Pixi

jen_br wrote: »

Its not grey at all you are missing the point.. let me try to explain this very simply and how (my accountant has been doing my books for the last 6 years)

Ok say you are going to Bubba Gumps (made up names and fees) and the assignment is to eat there and write a report on the food and service... You can have up to 25.00 as your expenses and 20.00 for a fee..

You record 45.00 on income and under expenses you write 25.00 for the meal + travel+ printing+ etc etc. so lets say after that job the fee is 45.00 your expenses were 40.00 you would walk away with 5.00 profit.. the 5.00 is taxable

If your going to Bubba Gumps Burger bar and are told to order combo number 5 which comes to 20.00 and you get a fee of 10.00 you would again record 30.00 income.... minus your expenses lets say they come to 37.00 so you now have a loss of 7.00 this is what the tax man will see. So you don't pay any tax on a loss.

My accountant has always said as long as you are purchasing what is required ie. combo number 5 because you are reporting on the taste etc that is an expense (no different then a restaurant critic) but you still have to record it.

Make sense?

So if the shopping is classed as an expense I will only be taxed on the profit which is the fee as all the shopping is paid back to me. So whilst I need to record it, it seems to me that the shopping is effectively free and I wanted to know what taxes I need to pay. I'd rather pay tax on the fee rather than on the fee and shopping.

So when I fill the forms I need to record an expense of the shopping total and it's subsequent refund! I then pay tax on the Fee?

Have I understood it now?:)

proshopper

look_after_the_pennies wrote: »

:wave: Proshopper! How are you getting on with all your jobs to do before Christmas Eve?!

Snow has come down fairly overnight here. Was hoping we were going to miss the worst of it! Got some MS jobs to do tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday and hoping I can get to them.

Well, I'm not affected by the weather, pennies (there is still only half an inch of snow here, and fingers crossed it stays that way). I am severely hampered by lack of car, though. A leaking radiator has put me off the road until the local garage can locate a replacement, and that is proving tricky.

I tried an excursion yesterday on public transport - I was out of the house for 12 hours and only managed four of my eight jobs (with six bus rides).

The distance wasn't huge. It would have been under 50 miles for the round trip in the car and about 90 minutes travel. It was a complete waste of effort doing it by bus, and I froze while standing around at bus stops. None of my other work even remotely warrants using public transport: I attempted to plan one other circuit and gave up when I realised that I could only fit in three jobs at most. Even then, I would miss the last bus back home and I'd have to walk the last four miles or get a taxi. Idyllic rural living - pah!

So, I'm not making much of an inroad into my huge workload. I keep rescheduling and rescheduling; luckily most of my jobs have flexible dates. Some of the places I need to get to seem to be bordering on the bad weather areas - where are you, pennies?

misssarahleigh

jen_br wrote: »

Example 2. Lets say you went to Bubba Gumps and the fee was 10.00 and you were asked to spend 5.00 but you spent 15.00 you could only claim the 5.00 that you were asked to spend as an expense.

Just to be a cow. What if there was nothing to purchase under £15.

If i go with £5 spend and find out the lowest item is £15 then thats what i have to purchase as part of the job.

So, that £15 is coming out of my profit lol

(gonna go hide for the next hour )

StacFace

samtastic7 wrote: »

http://http://www.freshneyplace.co.uk/
no they are so stupid its unreal
wed and thurs a whole shopping center closed.....

That's my local shopping centre, you live in the area or just happen to notice it lol?