mystery shopping tax advice

scanlon1

Hi, I started doing mystery shopping last April and have registered with the inland revenue, I am a bit confused do the inland revenue send me a self assessment form, and if so when can should i receive it. Also when filling the form in if I have visited a resuturant and the company have provided me with a spending limit of £18.00 and paid me £5.00 for the assignment, do I put the £18.00 on the form as expenses, hope this makes sense

chappers

Would have thought so, speak to the Mystry shopping company they will tell you all about it.

fengirl_2

You will receive a self assessment form some time after 5 April.
You will need to show on the form all your income from the mystery shopping company, including any reimbursed expenses. You will also show all your actual expenses incurred in the job, eg spending in shops and restaurants, travel, parking, etc. I hope you have kept receipts!

scanlon1

hi, thanks for advice, yes I have kept receipts!!!

full-time-mum

scanlon1 wrote: »

Hi, I started doing mystery shopping last April and have registered with the inland revenue, I am a bit confused do the inland revenue send me a self assessment form, and if so when can should i receive it. Also when filling the form in if I have visited a resuturant and the company have provided me with a spending limit of £18.00 and paid me £5.00 for the assignment, do I put the £18.00 on the form as expenses, hope this makes sense

I filled in my first form last year and after some conflicting advice, I finally established that I should put the entire amount down as income. ie: £23 and offset the cost of the meal as expenses ie: £18.

It does get confusing as some MS companies treat you as self-employed and others as employees. You have to fill in a separate sheet for every company that you are employed by - you should get P60s from these. The others can all be lumped together for self-employment purposes.

You can also offset your petrol costs in certain circumstances up to the value of 40p per mile. If you are paid 20p per mile, then you can offset the other 20p against your tax liability. This only applies if you aren't travelling to a usual place of work.
(For example, I work on a casual basis as a casualty for the St John Ambulance, as I always go to the same building, I can't claim petrol. If the exams were held at different company locations, then I believe I could then claim mileage). I hope that makes sense.

Have you been on the tax course? I was offered one as soon as I registered. It was half a day and cost nothing and was well worth the time spent. If you haven't been on one, then ring the tax office and find out if there is one locally.

scanlon1

Thanks for advice full-time-mum, did you keep all receipts and send them as I thought I hadall the receipts but when I first started for retail eyes I sent my receipts to them,so have not got receipts for first few assisgnments.

full-time-mum

scanlon1 wrote: »

Thanks for advice full-time-mum, did you keep all receipts and send them as I thought I hadall the receipts but when I first started for retail eyes I sent my receipts to them,so have not got receipts for first few assisgnments.

Don't panic, just make a handwritten note of what you spent - the amounts involved aren''t big enough to cause problems. Occaissionally, you don't get given a reciept and for some assignements it would be very difficult to insist without it looking odd. I think you can email/fax receipts to RE, if not, send photocopies.

brightonman123

am i missing something here? i make you are already £13 DOWN - £18 less £5 - on the deal, even without tax being accounted for..?

or am i just being dumb (i blame the snow..), and the £18 allowance gets paid in advance, or do you claim that back?

looks like a great / cheap way to boost a poorly attended restaurant, with the 'mystery shopper' being used as a front..?

catwoman150

come and join us if you would like on the MS thread part three http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=614705 there is loads of tips and tricks on there and tax help, and of course a good of rant.

chappers

brightonman123 wrote: »

am i missing something here? i make you are already £13 DOWN - £18 less £5 - on the deal, even without tax being accounted for..?

or am i just being dumb (i blame the snow..), and the £18 allowance gets paid in advance, or do you claim that back?

looks like a great / cheap way to boost a poorly attended restaurant, with the 'mystery shopper' being used as a front..?

yes you are basically if you are self employed your total income was £23 you offset against that £18 as an allowable business expense(your allowance that you spent on the meal, which was included in the £23) you then therefore pay tax on the remaining £5 which was your fee for doing the shop