Store Audits & Tax / Mileage

DavidCurtis89

Hi guys. Recently started working doing store audits. Akin to mystery shopping in its most basic form with some more things such as completing announced visit, merchandising, stock checks, and a few other things. 

I expect my earnings to be over £1000 but I’ve been looking into it further and found out about the flat rate 45p milage of which I think I would be able to claim.  

I’m just looking for some advice. 

Firstly, this is a second income source alongside my day job. Started in January and I’m expecting to make about £300 per month from it due to being part time. As this should be around £3500 per year(ish) should I be registering for self assessment for the period from January to 5 April and then for next year due to additional income with gross of over £1,000? 

Secondly, although the job pays reasonably well, there is a lot of travelling involved. Potentially something that could earn me £15 could actually be 30 miles travel round trip... so 30 x £0.45 would be £13.50 of the £15.00 gone with mileage allowance meaning it will look like any potential ‘profit’ from the work is non-existent? 

Finally, I’m finding it hard to get any clear information back about how to calculate the milage. I’ll sometimes have a day that looks like:

Home to Store 1 (1 Miles)
Store 1 to Store 2 (2.5 Miles)
Store 2 to Store 3 (6.5 Miles)
Store 3 to Store 4 (12 Miles) 
Store 4 to Store 5 (3 Miles) 
Store 5 to Home (1.5 Miles)

Which part(s) of the above would I actually be eligible to claim back as milage? All of the resources I can find seem to just be talking about people claiming fro a meeting away from their usual place of work... but in my case my main workplace is actually my house as that’s where I complete the report writing that is done from the findings.

Hope this makes sense, thanks for your help in advance.  

Jeremy535897

If this is going to be ongoing, I would register as self employed with effect from the date you did your first job, although you don't have to register if total turnover in the tax year is no more than £1,000. I would do it sooner rather than later. See:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/how-do-i-register-tax-and-national-insurance

The deadline (if you say you start before 6 April 2021) is 5 October 2021.

If your home is your base of work, all the journeys you describe would normally be deductible, as your home is your base. There is a lot of useful guidance here:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/working-out-profits-losses-and-capital-allowance/what-business-expenses

Once your turnover goes above £1,000 in the tax year, you must register as self employed, even if you make no profit. (If you make a loss, you might be able to claim it against other income, so long as you avoid the cash basis for your business.)

DavidCurtis89

Jeremy535897 said:

If this is going to be ongoing, I would register as self employed with effect from the date you did your first job, although you don't have to register if total turnover in the tax year is no more than £1,000. I would do it sooner rather than later. See:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/how-do-i-register-tax-and-national-insurance

The deadline (if you say you start before 6 April 2021) is 5 October 2021.

If your home is your base of work, all the journeys you describe would normally be deductible, as your home is your base. There is a lot of useful guidance here:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/working-out-profits-losses-and-capital-allowance/what-business-expenses

Once your turnover goes above £1,000 in the tax year, you must register as self employed, even if you make no profit. (If you make a loss, you might be able to claim it against other income, so long as you avoid the cash basis for your business.)

Thanks for the answer! The issue I’ve had with some of the information is that I didn’t know if i would be able to claim milage from gone to first location and from last location back home. 

Why would you say to avoid cash basis?  

Jeremy535897

DavidCurtis89 said:

Jeremy535897 said:

If this is going to be ongoing, I would register as self employed with effect from the date you did your first job, although you don't have to register if total turnover in the tax year is no more than £1,000. I would do it sooner rather than later. See:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/how-do-i-register-tax-and-national-insurance

The deadline (if you say you start before 6 April 2021) is 5 October 2021.

If your home is your base of work, all the journeys you describe would normally be deductible, as your home is your base. There is a lot of useful guidance here:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/working-out-profits-losses-and-capital-allowance/what-business-expenses

Once your turnover goes above £1,000 in the tax year, you must register as self employed, even if you make no profit. (If you make a loss, you might be able to claim it against other income, so long as you avoid the cash basis for your business.)

Thanks for the answer! The issue I’ve had with some of the information is that I didn’t know if i would be able to claim milage from gone to first location and from last location back home. 

Why would you say to avoid cash basis?  

The only issue you might have is if you mainly drove to the same first location. The cash basis only allows you to carry losses forward, rather than setting them against other income. (There are other reasons like inflexibility over claiming relief for capital expenditure.)

redpete

DavidCurtis89 said:

Secondly, although the job pays reasonably well, there is a lot of travelling involved. Potentially something that could earn me £15 could actually be 30 miles travel round trip... so 30 x £0.45 would be £13.50 of the £15.00 gone with mileage allowance meaning it will look like any potential ‘profit’ from the work is non-existent? 

Almost, so your tax return will look as though your profit on that day's work was £1.50,  This is not an issue as far as HMRC is concerned.
So starting with the £15 you get paid, you'll pay 30p tax on this.  For the sake of argument let's assume that your real mileage-related costs (fuel, extra servicing, extra wear on tyres...) are 25p per mile, so that's £7.50 for the 30 miles.  So that work, plus an hour spent driving around, is worth maybe £7.20 in your pocket.