Survey sites etc- taxes

andrew71

Hi just wanted to find out what is the situation regarding survey sites and cash back sites and taxes?
I have accounts with a few of the paid survey sites which I haven't really been filling the surveys in although I am about to start doing some again.

How much can you earn via survey site or cashback sites or swagbuck (which I am also going to have a look at) before you have to pay tax?

Flyonthewall

With cashback sites you don't need to worry at all about tax. It's not an income, it's just cash back on what you have bought.

As for survey sites, they are not supposed to be done as a job. I'm pretty sure you don't need to worry about tax. Either way, the chances are you wouldn't be earning enough from them to be taxed anyway, but I'm sure someone on here can give more information about it.

patman99

Officially, yes, you should declare them to HMRC. However, many don't.
You can or course offset the cost of the PC & electricity used to take the surveys & thus, with a bit of creative accounting, your Tax bill is reduced to pennies.

psychic_teabag

I've been pondering this tax thing for a while. It seems to me that there's a complication with different kinds of points all mixed toghether.

Take nectar : I get points from buying groceries in Sainsburys. I'm pretty sure that's not considered taxable. But I also get nectar points for searching and for watching adverts. (And I think nectar do cashback sort-of points for shopping - haven't tried that yet.) So either rewards for searching and watching ads are not taxable, or I need to track separately the different kinds of nectar points I get.

EDIT: oh - plus "nectar canvas" does surveys...

Suppose HMRC decide all nectar points are non-taxable. That ought to be transferrable to, say, swagbucks, so that rewards for searching and watching ads and shopping are not taxable there either. But surveys are taxable. And the rewards from surveys are all mixed in with the other points. Are swagbucks referrals or monthly-bonuses taxable ? They only pay the daily bonus on part of the days earnings. Do we assume the 10% is on taxable points (making it taxable ?), or non-taxable points ?

It's all very complicated :-(

Do we need sites such as swagbucks to provide statements on separate taxable and non-taxable income ?

Flyonthewall

I agree that it is very complicated. I think survey sites cover themselves by saying any earnings that are taxable are down to the user, but whether they are ever taxable or need to be declared I don't know.

As already said, you don't always get cash for these things. What about when you earn points and redeem items or gift cards/vouchers? Should that be taxable? If not, why would I want to earn cash that is taxable when I can get items/gift cards/vouchers of the same value?

Flyonthewall

I've just been looking at the HMRC website. No where does it mention things such as surveys or cashback, unless I've missed something?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/taxable-income.htm

The only thing close to that I can see is that it says "Profits you make from working for yourself as a sole trader or partner." That is for being self-employed though and you don't need to be self-employed to complete surveys. It's also not classed as working. You're not employed by the sites or in any way working for them, they simply reward you for being active.

antrobus

patman99 wrote: »

Officially, yes, you should declare them to HMRC. However, many don't.
You can or course offset the cost of the PC & electricity used to take the surveys & thus, with a bit of creative accounting, your Tax bill is reduced to pennies.

Basically, the correct answer.

HMRC aren't interested in collecting a pound or two here and there.

psychic_teabag

Fair enough - would probably cost them more than they collect in practise. But it would still be nice to know the actual rules, if only from an academic perspective.

googler

Flyonthewall wrote: »

As for survey sites, they are not supposed to be done as a job. I'm pretty sure you don't need to worry about tax. Either way, the chances are you wouldn't be earning enough from them to be taxed anyway, but I'm sure someone on here can give more information about it.

So, if the survey company got all the folk in a room to complete the survey, and gave them £20 cash in hand at the end of it, and repeated the process with a number of the participants receiving multiple payments, then the participants wouldn't be doing that as 'a job' ... And they wouldn't need to 'worry about tax' ..?

googler

Flyonthewall wrote: »

The only thing close to that I can see is that it says "Profits you make from working for yourself as a sole trader or partner." That is for being self-employed though and you don't need to be self-employed to complete surveys. It's also not classed as working. You're not employed by the sites or in any way working for them, they simply reward you for being active.

'not classed as working' - are you SURE?

You don't think this is classified as self-employment? Something where you receive money for providing some form of service to another party?

Flyonthewall

googler wrote: »

So, if the survey company got all the folk in a room to complete the survey, and gave them £20 cash in hand at the end of it, and repeated the process with a number of the participants receiving multiple payments, then the participants wouldn't be doing that as 'a job' ... And they wouldn't need to 'worry about tax' ..?

I don't see it as a job, I see it as a reward and judging by what I've found online, HMRC see it the same way, especially where cashback is concerned (it's a shopping discount/reward).

It's not always cash either. I redeem rewards from points I have gained doing activities/tasks.

If I went self-employed or was employed by a company I wouldn't accept payment in points or rewards for doing a job.

The survey sites don't employ you and they don't give you a job. It's not a guaranteed thing either that you'll get a reward.

Now if I owned the survey site that would be a very different thing because I'd be getting an income from the advertisers, I'd be a company and that would be my job. If I was an admin or moderator for the site that too would be a job because they'd pay me a wage, in cash, for running the site and moderating. They'd be employing me to do a job.