Maximising income - Mystery Shopping? Surveys? (Part Two)

mouche

Jamiemast, I've doing MS for 3 months now but seriously only for a month. I've just declared myself self-employed and I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is. Here are some things I've learned:

1) Ring the number given in the first post of this thread and say that you are self-employed. You'll need you NI number at hand. The lady who spoke to me guided me through the whole process and was really helpful.

2) You'll need to ask for a application form for Certificate of Small Earnings - you'll almost definitely not make more than the small earnings threshold by mystery shopping - not if you're employed full time as well. You should also ask to have your name passed on to the Training Cell - they do workshops in filling out tax forms and things. They will get in touch with you and offer you a place in a workshop. They only do them on weekdays so you'll have to sacrifice a day off for it, but I think it's worth it.

3) Apply for the Certificate of Small Earnings as soon as you get the application form because they will send you an NI bill really quickly and you will need to pay it if you don't have the exemption certificate.

4) Keep track of all the mystery shops you do. I find it most helpful to have an Excel sheet that tracks costs, reimbursements, fees and profits. Basically, (Fees+Reimbursements) - (Costs) = Profits. You will need to pay tax on your profits. How much tax depends on your income from other sources. Timne can help you better than me on that one. What I do is calculate the tax I'll need to pay on each job and put that amount aside when I get paid for the job. That way I won't be hit by a whacking tax bill I can't pay at the end of the year!

You can pick and choose your assignments from most of the MS companies. Therefore you can pick only the ones you can afford to do - though most of them don't expect you to spend more than £10.

I know from experience that GR pay very regularly and you won't have to wait long for them to pay you (if you're lucky in enough to grab an assignment - but that's a different story!). Gap pay you on the 24th of the month after the shop, which can be irritatating if you do a shop on the 1st and don't get paid till the 24th of the following month. But they've always paid me right on time. Others will be able to help you witht he payment strategies of other companies.

Hope that helps.

mimi1234

Talking of taxes and the like, just a quick question.Mouche said it's reimbursements and fees - costs. I'm assuming costs equals travel expenses, do you also include printing and electricity spent on the computer? If so, I normally print my paperwork at the local library, and it costs 15p per sheet. What do you guys use for electricity costs from home? Recently I did one for GFK with a payment of £5. Travel expenses were £3.50 for a day ticket, printing was 50p, and I don't know what the electricity costs were. I think it took me about half an hour to understand exactly what I was doing and pass the little questionnaire test, and then a couple of minutes to input the data. So in all, I think I made about 50p profit. Am I doing that right or am I cheating? HELP!I've been doing mystery shopping for a few months, to be totally honest, I can't say I have made much if I use the reimbursements and fees - costs as I have picked assignments that cost a lot to get to from where I live. Cheers people.

Timmne

Your costs can include printing - just deduct what you've spent - in the case of someone that prints at home, one would usually just charge a nominal charge per page. Most people charge around 5-7p although it's really hard to pin down an exact cost.

You can't really claim electricity as it's such a massive unknown. If you pay for the internet though, you could charge a proportion of this per month to your MS business. I usually charge 1/3 of my broadband cost to the MSing (despite it being more like 2/3!) and this is reasonable.

You're right with the fees and reimbursements - costs. Everything you receive is treated as income for the purpose of your tas return. Everything you then spend (or costs you incur without having to pay for directly such as internet) then comes off this income to make your profit...

mimi1234

OK. Cool. Thanks for that information. All my internet costs are for mystery shopping, I don't use it at home for any other reason.


Also, does anyone know what the agency for flights is? Someone mentioned it a post a bit ago, and I wouldn't mind trying it out.

Timmne

That's BARE

amandaletch

I've recently had my first baby, but have had to leave work to look after both her and my hubby, who has been ill for a while now. as a result, we are broke. I claim everything I'm entitled too, but every month is a struggle - we have £40 to last a fortnight at the mo! due to hubb's illness, MS are out of the question for me, I cant leave him for that long.
does anyone know any decent surveys I can do? I have just joined AQA so waiting to see if that'll work out, but want to supplement my income.
thanks in advance.

A_little_stressed!!

I would recommend YouGov for surveys, but you have to get to £50 before they pay you! They are pretty boring but 50p each, if you refer your partner as well you can sign up in his name, do the surveys and also get the extra 50p a time in your account - tripling your income, I started this but couldn't be arsed to do the surveys twice in the end! Good Luck! Babies do hurt the pocket!

A_little_stressed!!

Me again! I've just been accepted by TNS so I am looking forward to new adventures! I'm on Tax credits, do i have to contact them now as TNS employ me? Or only once I've started doing jobs?
Also I've been with GFK over a week and no jobs, do you have to wait a week or so before they become available?
And I made the age old mistake of picking my first RE jobs which isn't for weeks so now can't choose anymore til I've done that 1:wall: :doh:

catwoman150

Well I have been mystery shopping for about a year now. I have kept all my paperwork. Which you all know will be a lot. I know that I have to keep all the paperwork for the limit set by each MS company, but after that time what to do with it all. Should I just keep the information about pay which is sometimes the front sheet or shall I keep all of it as it is getting a lot.

mimi1234

GFK normally send me an email when they have visits in my area, and they do actually have visits when they send emails unlike GR. You could always check a few times a day as they do go on, and there are some on sometimes when no emails have been sent. Just don't forget to click on VISITS AVAILABLE and refresh, sometimes they don't show up. Got an email off them today, and they had some in my area, but a bit too far for my liking.Also, if anyone is with BARE, can you PM me, I have a few questions. Just joined up today and there are quite a few in my area, but don't know which ones I should go for. PM me please.