Mystery Shopping Thread 20 **PLEASE DO NOT MENTION CLIENT NAMES OR FEES ON HERE**

Boredupnorth

invalid_username wrote: »

I must say, reading back it seems quite afew new comers have been unfairly ridiculed. I've had a lovly welcome and i hope it continues but others havent faired so well. One in particular who stood up for him/herself then got put on everyones ignored list.:(

Maybe this could be a new beginning for everyone? where no one is picked on and we all try to support each other, even the new people.:D

And i promise to do a search first before asking anyhting.:j

Now what the heck are fast supermarket jobs and egg jobs:o

Have a nice day everyone

Not everyone's I think he was only saying what a lot of others were already thinking.

Sure look through the thread before asking but don't waste hours doing it, ask the question there are still some people on here who will answer no matter what.

I always thought that was the point of the forum anyway. I will pm you with the answer to your other questions as we never name clients on here.

weeg

As a complete aside on the 'newbies', I've never waded in to this, and I've been on these threads for about 2 years, my perception is this:

There are a lot of people here happy to help each other out, and a lot of time, thought and effort has been put into compiling and maintaining the info on the first few threads. People are generally really friendly.

But sometimes people wander on to the end of the thread and ask blunt, uninformed questions. It feels like someone has barged to the front of the buffet and demanded to be fed all the best stuff. This annoys people. It also disrespects the people here, and disregards the skills that make for a good MSer (patience and observation, for example).

I don't understand why anyone would start posting in a discussion without reading around a bit first. In the same way I don't understand people who go to business networking and thrust their cards right in the middle of a conversation. Introduce yourself politely, and we'll be nice. Be rude, why should we be nice?

(and at the risk of sounding like a toddler with their fingers in their ears, this is just my opinion. I'm entitled to my opinion, so won't be responding to any comments on my opinion)

Boredupnorth

weeg wrote: »

I'm going to disagree with this. There has been a lot of discussion on these threads over the years about this, and various people (including one who worked for HMRC, as I recall) have concluded something slightly different.

If the report specifically asks about the taste, quality, freshness etc of the food item, then it can be classed as a deductible expense. The logic being you needed to eat the food to earn the fee - you can therefore claim anything you must buy to assess as an expense. (For example, there is no way I would eat 3 fast food burgers in one day without being paid).

If, however, there is no fee, then you are only doing the work in exchange for the food and the food is a 'benefit in kind' and the re-imbursement is taxable.

Complicated, I know, but this has been discussed and tested over the years and HMRC accepts this.

Its a fair challenge and can be interpreted either way. It wont actually matter if they dont audit it but there is a strong argument to view it this way too.

Monkeynut

With regards to the tax situation, it is such a grey area as it can be interpreted both ways that have been said in the last few posts.
So long as you are happy enough to be able to justify it to the tax man if you were ever to be checked, then I'm sure you'll be fine.

samtastic7

MSRyan wrote: »

Lol, Just don't ask 'What companies are best to sign up to?'

yep we spent 5 years or more learning what we know

samtastic7

weeg wrote: »

But sometimes people wander on to the end of the thread and ask blunt, uninformed questions. It feels like someone has barged to the front of the buffet and demanded to be fed all the best stuff. This annoys people. It also disrespects the people here, and disregards the skills that make for a good MSer (patience and observation, for example).

agreed as i just said its takes years of learning and errors to get this knowledge

Boredupnorth

HappyMJ wrote: »

Then why would I do a pub job then if I have to pay tax on it. I always claim the travel and the meal that I had as an expense against the reimbursement which always makes a loss which I use to offset tax against other mystery shopping income. Which in reality if I play it right and do some jobs many miles away for theme parks for instance means I make zero profit. Unless you mean the fees and reimbursements are taxable which is correct and then I claim the expenses including the travel and the meal as expenses.

Just to be clear, if the meal actually costs say £30 and you get £30 reimbursement. Do you tell HMRC you lost £30, plus your travel, printing etc expenses? So say a £35 loss for doing the job?
Or are you saying you declare £30 as income and then offset your travel, printing etc against this? Ie a profit of £25 which is then therefore taxable?

mamashaz

[QOr are you saying you declare £30 as income and then offset your travel, printing etc against this? Ie a profit of £25 which is then therefore taxable?

This is what I was told when I contacted them a few months ago.

Boredupnorth

mamashaz wrote: »

[QOr are you saying you declare £30 as income and then offset your travel, printing etc against this? Ie a profit of £25 which is then therefore taxable?

This is what I was told when I contacted them a few months ago.

That is correct and what I think the OP was trying to say. If there was also a fee (no matter how small) as well as reimbursement there is a grey argument that you include the £30 as an expenses as you can argue you are doing the work for the fee. I can see that this argument could be won although personally I think it is a somewhat rocky stance.

Lil_Me_2

The key tax loophole is the idea of the reimbursement side of the money is an "incidental benefit". I.e you did the job to get the fee, and if the job notes require you to eat a meal then this is purely an incidental benefit to getting the fee. This is the argument that most will use should the tax man question you so this means that you class the reimbursement as an income, and the purchase as an expense. Normally these cancel each other out, so then you're left with the fee minus the travel/printing costs and you are liable to pay tax on the profit left over.

E.g Job pays £5, you have to buy something for £10. 2 miles travelled and 10 pages printed.
Income is the fee and the reimbursement = £15
Expenses is the purchase, travel and printing = £11.50
Profit = £3.50

Now reimbursement only jobs you'd have a very hard time to justify why you did the job other than to get "free stuff". Therefore the purchase is not an incidental benefit, the reimbursement is the ONLY reason you did the job.