Mystery shopping thread 26 *please read the op first**please no client names or fees

bubble56

I've just started mystery dining and I'm really confused about if I have to declare this and register as self-employed? I have looked through the guide posted above but it didn't make it clear to me how it works.

All the dines I've done so far I have been reimbursed a certain amount. E.g A dine where I must order 2 mains and 2 drinks. The maximum reimbursement is £30 and I have spent £34. Do I declare the £30 even though its a reimbursement? Or do I only have to declare dines when I receive a fee to do them?

Many thanks.

Big_Graeme

bubble56 wrote: »

I've just started mystery dining and I'm really confused about if I have to declare this and register as self-employed? I have looked through the guide posted above but it didn't make it clear to me how it works.

All the dines I've done so far I have been reimbursed a certain amount. E.g A dine where I must order 2 mains and 2 drinks. The maximum reimbursement is £30 and I have spent £34. Do I declare the £30 even though its a reimbursement? Or do I only have to declare dines when I receive a fee to do them?

Many thanks.

You are being bought dinner in exchange for the report, the value of the dinner is what you declare as income, you may claim incidentals like parking. mileage and printing but NOT the cost of the meal as an expense.

This is direct from a HMRC inspector of taxes.

burnoutbabe

Big_Graeme wrote: »

You are being bought dinner in exchange for the report, the value of the dinner is what you declare as income, you may claim incidentals like parking. mileage and printing but NOT the cost of the meal as an expense.

This is direct from a HMRC inspector of taxes.

is that actual case law? as other inspectors have said your income is what you receive as cash (fee + reimbursement) then your costs are what you spent (meal plus mileage)

Which is what most people declare it as. So reimbursement only has no tax to pay on it, just fee paying ones (after other costs).

I'd not declare more than the reimbursement amount, bar some GAP ones where the cost of the meal in London was more than they said it would be. But most restaurants, you can do the report and have 3 meals for what they will cover.

preecey

MysteryMe wrote: »

Have GR lost the slapper? Not seen anything for a few months.

I haven't seen them for a while, either.

preecey

Sunny_spell wrote: »

Has anyone done phone shops visits for TNS recently? Not sure if it's confirmed that client left?? If they moved somewhere else, I do hope they will have a report system like GR or GFK phone shops.
I cannot see cars or stamp jobs either.

It would be disappointing if that client left TNS. As much as I hated doing the reports on Sassie, it was a decent earner for me as I often picked up the urgent visits which usually paid up to treble the normal fee.

My guess is that the client is probably looking to move to Market Force in the near future, which will more than likely reduce the fee.

I was very disappointed to see a while back that the subscription TV broadcaster had moved from GfK to MF.

blindman

burnoutbabe wrote: »

is that actual case law? as other inspectors have said your income is what you receive as cash (fee + reimbursement) then your costs are what you spent (meal plus mileage)

Which is what most people declare it as. So reimbursement only has no tax to pay on it, just fee paying ones (after other costs).

I'd not declare more than the reimbursement amount, bar some GAP ones where the cost of the meal in London was more than they said it would be. But most restaurants, you can do the report and have 3 meals for what they will cover.

If you do a Job where there is no fee then what ever you receive for doing the job (meal, cinema,flight etc) has a value and is income, so has to be taxed as such.

If you do a job that has a fee then the fee only is counted as income and the rest is expense.

Basically beware the no fee jobs.

vegasvisitor

Just to confuse things...read the last paragraph of this.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/11/secrets-mystery-shopper

It says meals are not taxable, but all purchases you can keep are. This is very confusing. I mean what if it's a takeaway sandwich? Or one of those where you don't actually want the required purchase? All quite confusing.

burnoutbabe

are all bloggers who receive products to write reviews taxed on the value of what they get? I doubt it. Or restaurant reviewers who do it for the reimursement of the meal as they are building up their reputation? Again, probably not. So why would this job be any different to that?

blindman

burnoutbabe wrote: »

are all bloggers who receive products to write reviews taxed on the value of what they get? I doubt it.

Why do you doubt it?

Or restaurant reviewers who do it for the reimursement of the meal as they are building up their reputation? Again, probably not.

Do you have proof?

So why would this job be any different to that?

If you do a job\blog for a fee then the taxman (happily) accepts that the meal\flight\McD's you got as part of the job was just that-A requirement in order to get the fee.

If you do a no fee job\blog then he asks Why are you working for nothing -unless it's to receive the hotel room\flight\ McD's?
(feel free to argue it's to get "experience" and see how that goes)

So in that case it's classed as a "benefit in Kind" and is taxed accordingly.

That's how I have read it for a few years.

However I suggest you contact HMRC and tell them all the jobs you do for no fee and what you get in return and report back with their response.

blindman

lesley74 wrote: »

Just to confuse things...read the last paragraph of this.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/11/secrets-mystery-shopper

It says meals are not taxable, but all purchases you can keep are. This is very confusing. I mean what if it's a takeaway sandwich? Or one of those where you don't actually want the required purchase? All quite confusing.

Well obviously everthing in that article is accurately researched and is true

ABa spokeswoman Jill Spencer. "Each day, they typically spend up to eight hours visiting five to 10 stores, plus another hour or two filing detailed reports on every aspect of their visit." For that, the mystery shoppers can earn up to £155 a day. T

I've never earned £155 per day an definitely not for ABA

"Laura" Her income is typically £30,000 to £40,000 a year,

Really
Anyone here get that much?

it satisfying to return to a store she has previously mystery shopped and see standards have improved.

Never happened in my lifetime. Of course others may have a different story.