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

dbrookf

Larac wrote: »

Thats how I looked at it - particularly when you are involved in sending emails - you have know idea what the profile of the person behind the email is.

Can you not play act the part?! I've been accepted and I'm female living in the North! Whoops, will I have to own up?

Larac

dbrookf wrote: »

Can you not play act the part?! I've been accepted and I'm female living in the North! Whoops, will I have to own up?

There is something in my profile which when I select any of the jobs from student to divorcee scenario which rejects me. (Suspect it may be age). ESA have done this before and the jobs 'hang' and then suddenly you are told that they have removed restrictions.

Tolteca87

Those jobs have 'will get hassled by the target for months' all over 'em.

Sam_Donovan

Really helpful post about setting up as self employed, I am looking at doing this however am confused by the profit from the fees.

I have only done a few £s jobs in the last month however if I was to put the cost of 45p per mile for the jobs on paper every job I ever do would be a loss as I do a 50 mile round trip to these ( either while visiting family or on days out ).

I only do it as every £1 off shopping counts when on a very tight budget

I am new to this but looking into further ways of increasing money made from surveys / mystery shops / online so need to better understand the self employed info , apologies if the wrong place to post this.

missymouse

i got rang up about RA but I decided not to do it as it was too far away and the fee was so miminal.

My mystery shopping is fairly quiet but did do a food one which was hassle. You are meant to time everything but at the same time visit the toilet but whatever time you go you miss something so was honest on this report.

weeg

Sam_Donovan wrote: »

I have only done a few £x jobs for small supermarkets and the occasional £y ones in the last month however if I was to put the cost of 45p per mile for the jobs on paper every job I ever do would be a loss as I do a 50 mile round trip to these ( either while visiting family or on days out ).

You've said it yourself - you do it while on days out or visiting family. You can only claim the part of the journey which is wholly for the MSing as an expense - so say the supermarket is 2 miles from your auntie's house - you can claim for 4 miles, but not the 23 you drove to see Aunty. Make sense?

We all sometimes make paper losses on jobs, but if Mr Tax inspector saw you consistently doing loss making jobs they would rightly be suspicious.

Also, it says it right at the start of the thread. We NEVER mention specific fees in this thread. It really (really really) !!!!es off the MS companies and is in breach of the agreements you sign up to when you agree to work for them. Can you edit them out of your post, please?

Sam_Donovan

weeg wrote: »

You've said it yourself - you do it while on days out or visiting family. You can only claim the part of the journey which is wholly for the MSing as an expense - so say the supermarket is 2 miles from your auntie's house - you can claim for 4 miles, but not the 23 you drove to see Aunty. Make sense?

We all sometimes make paper losses on jobs, but if Mr Tax inspector saw you consistently doing loss making jobs they would rightly be suspicious.

Also, it says it right at the start of the thread. We NEVER mention specific fees in this thread. It really (really really) !!!!es off the MS companies and is in breach of the agreements you sign up to when you agree to work for them. Can you edit them out of your post, please?

Thanks for the reply I have edited the amounts out was just using them as an example of the small fees.

That makes sense for the travel info , so to confirm it is only the fee part which is worked out for profit and not the reimbursement part?

weeg

Sam_Donovan wrote: »

That makes sense for the travel info , so to confirm it is only the fee part which is worked out for profit and not the reimbursement part?

It's not that simple I'm afraid. This comes up quite often and it's well worth having a read through this whole thread, and it's predecessor to get the whole range of opinions. My take on it is this.
1. If something is fee only, that's taxable
2. If something is reimbursement only, then that is taxable - it is a payment in kind.
3. If something has a small fee and a reimbursement then it is PROBABLY all taxable, as it's only the reimbursement that makes it worthwhile.
4. An exception to 3 would be something like a fast food visit. Lets say I'm paid £20 to go to a burrito shop, and I'm also reimbursed for the burrito, which costs £3. I need to taste the burrito to assess it, so I can't return it, and am limited in my choice of fillings. I am eating the burrito to earn the £20. The fact that I don't need to pay for my lunch elsewhere is incidental. On the other hand, if I was paid £3, but got to take my whole family for reimbursed burritos,the family gets an outing, we all get a lovely lunch. At that point hmrc would argue that the 'free' lunch was the main incentive, and is therefore taxable as a benefit in kind.

As I say, that's my take on it. Many people here agree, some are more aggressive in their tax reduction strategies and don't believe anything that has a fee attached should be counted as taxable. Do some reading around and make up your own mind.

weeg

And now I want a burrito! I don't know of any company that MSs a decent burrito place near me.

evelyns2000

I once bought a takeaway burrito. Took one look at brought it right back. The filling was minimal. I was ripped off. They weighed the contents in front of me to show me it conformed to their 113g requirement. I said I didn't care, it was a rip off at £6.95 and I wanted my money back. I now make my own burritos. In fact, that's what's on the menu tomorrow night. They'll be more like 450g!