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

squeaky1055

mimi1234 wrote: »

Hell no!

Sweetie, we are mystery shoppers and one of our characteristics should be HONESTY.

I know for a fact, if I tried getting away with it, I would get caught and probably locked up for life or something like that (well probably just a fine, lol!)

Also, I think they do mini courses at Tax Offices, so if people are unsure about things, maybe do a bit of research into them, or just nip into the Tax Office and ask one of the advisors. That way it's all legit and you know the correct answer etc.

They do run these courses and I have been to several as I run my own small business. They last about 3 hours and you get coffee and heaps of advice. Well worth going!

mskitten2904

I haven't been paid by GAP yet either.... Anyone else received it yet?

em1979

I haven't been paid by GAP either, nor has my partner :mad:

yonk

lalli_pickle wrote: »

Soooooo....

As one of my 'things to do before I hit 30' I've decided to climb a mountain on Saturday. Only a little one (Snowdon) cos I haven't had time to do any training but I was wondering if anyone else was suitably mad or bored enough to join me?

I'm forty next week and I tried to think of a "40 things to do before I'm 40" but have failed miserably!

Good luck with Snowden, wear appropriate boots or catch the train! You don't want to have sore feet on your b'day!

catwoman150

No, nothing fron GAP yet

dazza.mk

_nate wrote: »

I have a question regarding the suggestion that the reimbursement-only jobs should be considered benefits in kind.

One viewpoint could be this: if a job is done with a view purely to getting (for instance) a free meal and no fee, is this a "job" at all? Is it really a business activity? As a result, should it be included in a tax return at all? People do not "work" just for food.

The companies really do give you more work the more assignments you do, though. The nature of goodwill is important to the self-employed, who depend upon offers of work as and when they arise. It is, anyway, a murky area.

Nate, it is known as a benefit in kind, and if you were an employee would appear on a P11D and be taxed accordingly, your 'viewpoint' doesn't stretch to how this should be different for self employed.

The arguments re: doing a reimbursement only job due to maintaining a relationship with the company have been put forward above by white label & proshopper, however in their cases they had agreements to specific access to additional work through taking these 'loss' jobs, just a general argument doesn't really work with 'fastest finger first' online acceptance with no direct contact with an allocator.

_nate

dazza.mk wrote: »

Nate, it is known as a benefit in kind, and if you were an employee would appear on a P11D and be taxed accordingly, your 'viewpoint' doesn't stretch to how this should be different for self employed.

My question was not regarding the benefit in kind stuff - that was just a comment and a viewpoint.

My question is this: suppose you did only reimbursement-only jobs. No profit on any occasion. Could this really be considered "self-employment" or would it just be a "hobby"?

Income from, for example, gambling, is not included in a tax return as it is considered a hobby. One could view mystery shopping as the same if there was never any profit made.

The water gets muddier if you do a mixture of jobs but I hope you see what I am asking in this question when considering reimbursement-only ones.

dazza.mk

_nate wrote: »

My question was not regarding the benefit in kind stuff - that was just a comment and a viewpoint.

My question is this: suppose you did only reimbursement-only jobs. No profit on any occasion. Could this really be considered "self-employment" or would it just be a "hobby"?

Income from, for example, gambling, is not included in a tax return as it is considered a hobby. One could view mystery shopping as the same if there was never any profit made.

The water gets muddier if you do a mixture of jobs but I hope you see what I am asking in this question when considering reimbursement-only ones.

You can't say it is just a hobby as you are getting paid by the company, you are therefore relying on writing off the full full value of the meal against the (matching) payment received.

You therefore need to justify why any benefit (a free meal) you are receiving is 'incidental' as opposed to being the reason for doing the job. Proshopper & White Label could do it with their specific arguments given above, but you'll struggle to find a general argument.

dazza.mk

And if you want to take a case to a Tax Tribunal to establish that mystery shopping is a 'habit' (as opposed to a trade) as is gambling I wish you the best of luck.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/bim22017.htm

boyoboy1986

Everybody seems to do it differently. Some pay tax on the purchases, some try not too.

From the HMRC website

Self Assessment
Help and advice for customers completing their tax return and supplementary pages, or who need general advice about Self Assessment
Please have your Unique Taxpayer Reference number with you when you phone
Opening hours
8.00 am to 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday
8.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturday
Closed Sundays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day
0845 900 0444
If you're calling from abroad please telephone:
+44 161 931 9070

They are lovely (most of them) people and will be able to give you a definitive answer that way you will know exactly what you have to pay that way if you do get a please explain from Her Maj you can say 'well I spoke to X on X date and they said to calculate it this way'.