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

jobbingmusician

redcar wrote: »

josie wrote: »

I'm assuming (Timmne? or other tax bods) that you can claim for travel involved (on your own expenses record) even when a shop goes wrong and you have to revisit or don't get paid... see next query below?

I've been wondering this too. I do occasionally make mistakes and it's annoying when you have spent over £2 on a cup of coffee which you haven't even drunk (I limit my caffeine intake, which means I sometimes give my coffees away to homeless people - after weighing them, of course!) My view is that MS is a small business, so expenditure is allowable even when it's a mistake - what do you think, Timne?

Timmne

If it's a mistake I'd probably say don't claim for it - it's another one where you could claim it but upon an investigation, there's no way explaining a mistake was a genuine business expense, especially in the 'flaky' world of MSing where it seems a little unreasonable claiming for the food at times!

I tend to be quite brutal with my accounts - as an accountant I can't really let anything through as if I were to be picked for a random inspection and got found to be claiming something I shouldn't then I'd be in the poo from my various institutions.... It's probably best if everybody followed this 'rule of thumb' as we're only talking about a few quid in extra tax over a year anyway....

princess_leia_3

Just another quick tax question while we are on the subject

If yo do a restaurant where the fee is £5 and food allowance say £20 what happens if the mileage allowance (40p per mile) is £7.20??? Do I count this as a loss or just count the earnings on this ms as £0??

Thanks Timne (grovel grovel)

Also GR seems to be down at the moment - I keep trying to log in and it says an email has been sent to the admin please try later - whoops, they are gonna get a whole load of email LOL

annedunlop

princess_leia wrote: »

Just another quick tax question while we are on the subject

If yo do a restaurant where the fee is £5 and food allowance say £20 what happens if the mileage allowance (40p per mile) is £7.20??? Do I count this as a loss or just count the earnings on this ms as £0??

Thanks Timne (grovel grovel)

Also GR seems to be down at the moment - I keep trying to log in and it says an email has been sent to the admin please try later - whoops, they are gonna get a whole load of email LOL

They sure are - I thought it was just me and I've tried about 20 times!!!

Re the tax - do you not just claim £25 as earnings then put down £7.20 as allowances?

annedunlop

GRRRRR is back on - and yes, I've missed anopther 5 assignments

jobbingmusician

Is anyone else having problems accepting the phone assignments on RE? The way they are not disappearing, I reckon THEY have got the answer to at least one of the questions wrong!!!

Pathetic questions. 'You have a budget of £300' 'Have you got a budget of at least £300?' Answer - totally unclear from the brief, you idiots!

josie

princess_leia wrote: »

Just another quick tax question while we are on the subject

If yo do a restaurant where the fee is £5 and food allowance say £20 what happens if the mileage allowance (40p per mile) is £7.20??? Do I count this as a loss or just count the earnings on this ms as £0??

Thanks Timne (grovel grovel)

Also GR seems to be down at the moment - I keep trying to log in and it says an email has been sent to the admin please try later - whoops, they are gonna get a whole load of email LOL

Hi PL, I'm pretty sure you're ok to total this one as an apparent loss on paper - these are my favourites, as they should bring down the tax bill at the end of the year, by showing a loss on some jobs:j

princess_leia_3

annedunlop wrote: »

They sure are - I thought it was just me and I've tried about 20 times!!!

Re the tax - do you not just claim £25 as earnings then put down £7.20 as allowances?

I don't think you claim the allowance as earning as that is what you have to pay out to do the job, so that is counted as a cost.

princess_leia_3

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Is anyone else having problems accepting the phone assignments on RE? The way they are not disappearing, I reckon THEY have got the answer to at least one of the questions wrong!!!

Pathetic questions. 'You have a budget of £300' 'Have you got a budget of at least £300?' Answer - totally unclear from the brief, you idiots!

Haven't seen any of these assignments, but yes that question is unclear, I would answer 'no'. Can you try and reassign or does it not let you do that?

jobbingmusician

There are several questions as vague as that, so I have lost out 3 times and am no longer eligible for the most local assignment. Quite frankly, I've got bored now and can't be bothered trying to accept any others. I'm interested enough to see how long they take to disappear from the website, though