Questions about making cheap money!

hbslc

I'm a newbie DFW, and probably feel like i ought to apologise for asking so many questions! But if you feel kind, i'd love answers to:

1) Should earnings from Quidco, Ebay, etc be declared to the taxman? If so, with 40% tax it's less attractive.

2) If yes, do people keep a record just in case he comes calling?

3) Is Matched Betting legal? I truly can't believe it is.

4) Do people really physically save their quidco earnings, and BOGOF savings. etc? If so, how & why? If there's money saved shouldn't it be paid to a creditor?

Just trying to get my head around blasting my debts.

millionaire_in_training

Hi there not sure re the matched betting or the tax queries. But the savings I make I pay them off of my debts. You will see various challenges that people set up and they are all to encourage us to blast the debts. Remember not everyone is on these forums because they are in debt, they could be here just because they want to be more savvy with their spending so it could be that they are savers. Not sure if this makes sense but hopefully it will. Good luck with your debt repaying

HairyHandofDartmoor

Why would it be 40% tax?

hbslc

I'm a high rate taxpayer, and it does de-motivate me from spending time earning little amounts! Only becuase I own my own company and could spend the time earning or saving tax free money for my company.

millionaire_in_training

Only becuase I own my own company and could spend the time earning or saving tax free money for my company

Iwould do that then. Most of these ideas are for those who do not have this option. You have to choose what is the best way forward for you. I am a single mum,I work full time and I try all the e-bay, quidco etc etc as I am unable to get a second job or do overtime etc due to childcare. You use the best tools available to you and you can always pay someone a cut to e-bay for you

HairyHandofDartmoor

Well it probably wouldn't be worth your while then to do Quidco etc. You would be better off working for your own company. Just out of curiosity, how do you save tax free money for your company, if you don't mind my asking? (Do you mean ebay because that is tax free isn't it?)

hbslc

Just roughly. I run a transcription 'audio typing' company part time in the evenings. I charge clients £15 an hour, and pay freelance transcriptionists £8 an hour. Profit to company £7 an hour. If I do the transcription extra profit of £8 an hour. If I concentrate on marketing, potential is to win more clients and get more £7 an hour profits!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks. I'm pretty sure matched betting is legal, but it sounds very tricky to get the hang of (and quite time consuming) so I don't do it.

Seaxwyn

Hi hbslc

I'm self employed with the potential of earning well so I don't spend time on time-consuming low earners eg matched betting, surveys etc.

I do use Quidco if I'm going to make an online purchase anyway as it takes no more time. I had never thought of the tax implications so thanks for mentioning it, I will enquire.

I sell books on Amazon from my own large collection, I sometimes wonder if it's worth the small effort involved but to be honest I get a kick out of my books going to someone who actually wants them rather than gathering dust on a charity shop shelf. I enquired about the tax aspects here and was told for selling your own stuff, you don't have to pay tax. If you buy stuff to sell on, you do. However I think there was an income limit (£5k is the figure in my head but I'm not 100% sure) above which you would have to declare earnings.

From all I've read, matched betting is legal, it's just taking advantage of betting companies' introductory offers.

How do you recruit your audio typists? I'd be interested. I'm a fast and accurate typist and very reliable!

Karmacat

Hi there
I'm pretty sure you have to declare earnings from Amazon etc. I'll have to anyway, because I'm self employed, and I use my personal account for business (don't tell the bank!) so I have to have an explanation for these moneys that trickle in. I *believe* that if you're just selling your own stuff and not buying to resell, Inland Revenue don't care. I *am* just selling my own stuff, but I'll tell my accountant, I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of the IR, and I'm certainly keeping records (including what I spend on stamps and packing materials, perfectly fair).

As for what do you do to earn money, the above posters have the right idea, I agree - you do what's most profitable, and fits your circumstances. The daily click throughs and surveys are sometimes the only options people have - I've done a bit of that, and have had one ten pound voucher from pigsback plus about £8 from ciao for my pains. Mystery shopping is better, I think, once you get into it, matched betting better still - people are making £100 a week from that, so I wouldn't include that in the "earning little amounts" sector (not that you did specifically, IYSWIM). Matched betting is completely legal, by the way, its just what Seaxwyn describes above, playing off betting and laying against one another via introductory offers - it wouldn't work at all if not for the free introductory offers.

tyllwyd

My understanding was that cashback type money (where you have to spend out money and get a small amount back) was not counted as income and doesn't have to be declared.

If you sell a few of your own personal second-hand things on Amazon/Ebay etc, again as far as I understand it, that is not income and doesn't have to be declared. But if you are buying stuff to sell, then it is income and you should register yourself as self-employed for that income and declare it on your tax return etc. From what I've read, it is a bit of a grey area when selling your own bits & pieces crosses the line into trading.