Mystery Shopping newbie queries…

[black cat]

I know there is a massive thread on MSE which I am sure answers these queries but I got so lost in it, it seems to grow by about 15 pages a day I just can not keep up with!!

I have started doing mystery shopping this year to try and give me a wee bit more income, at the moment I have signed up for two companies (and was rejected by a third) but plan to join more when I am fully up and running. I am doing this round my normal 9-5 job so it is going to be hit or miss what I can do in my lunchbreak/weekends/after work.

I have got a spreadsheet from MSE which I am using to track my incoming/outgoings for tax. What I am wondering is if I can use any “incidentals” to write of any more tax, eg if I get a cup of coffee when I am out doing shopping (and keep the receipt) can this be used as an expense for doing that shop and therefore less tax to pay? I somehow doubt I can but just checking.

I am not sure what I have to do to register with the Inland Revenue to pay tax and also if I need to do anything about NI (given I pay NI in my main job)

[Becles]

You can only claim for expenses that you need to pay to do the job. If a job states you must buy a cup of coffee, then you can claim it. If you are just buying a coffee because you fancy a coffee, then you can't claim it.

You do need to register for tax and NI. If you ring the self employed helpline (number will be on www.hmrc.gov.uk (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk)) they will sort both out for you.

You'll get a tax return to complete every April and tax will be worked out accordingly. If you do it online, it's just a matter of putting your info in the relevant boxes and it works it all out for you.

For NI, if you are already paying in your main job and expect to earn less than approx £4500 from mystery shopping, then you can claim small earnings exemption. They will send you a certificate and no NI will be due. However if you ever leave your main job, it is worth cancelling exemption and paying NI, as it entitles you to certain benefits if you need them in the future.

[ukmonkey]

Good advice there from Becles.

I used to post on the MSE thread up until a couple of weeks ago.

It's probably best for you to start with a couple of companies that have lots of work. GAP is a good one for beginners - lots of work, pretty straight-forward reports. Only drawback with GAP is that they pay towards the end of the month AFTER you've done the job, so if you do a job at the start of March, you'll not get paid until around 24th April. On the other hand, if you did a job on 29th March, you'll still get paid around 24th April, so it evens out overall.

[black cat]

Thanks for the info.

That is what I suspected re buying coffee etc. What happens if you get paid back some of the spend but not all. Eg I did a fast food outlet where i was paid back £3 but spent £3.09. I know that 9p is not much but could I use that against tax (I assume i can not do the £3 as I get that back??)

I will call up the dreaded IR and get things sorted out.

At the moment I am with RE and Tern but will have a look at Gap as another one to start with.

[ukmonkey]

Thanks for the info.

That is what I suspected re buying coffee etc. What happens if you get paid back some of the spend but not all. Eg I did a fast food outlet where i was paid back £3 but spent £3.09. I know that 9p is not much but could I use that against tax (I assume i can not do the £3 as I get that back??)

I will call up the dreaded IR and get things sorted out.

At the moment I am with RE and Tern but will have a look at Gap as another one to start with.

As long as you can ay hand on heart that that 9p was a necessary expense, then you should have no issues claiming it as a loss.

Regarding RE: Do one assignment with them, to get a feel for how they work, but they are VERY low fees, very long and repatative reports with silly questions, they ask you to jump through many many hoops, and they STILL often try to do all they can to get out of paying you "Please tell us the name of the shop 3 doors down the road" "You didn't tell me I needed to note that information" "I'm afraid we are unable to use your report, therefore we will not pay you" (they'll then go on to use your report, thus they get paid by the client, but you don't get paid by them). BE CAREFUL WITH THEM. These days I only accept the juicy jobs with them which don't come up every day, but fairly often nonetheless.

Regarding TERN:

They're a fab company to work for, I've done maybe 20 jobs or so for them. They like detailed reports, with good spelling and grammar. Prompt to reimburse, and fairly quick to pay, you deal with real people who are all very pleasant and polite & friendly.

[black cat]

Thanks, as you say the jury is still out on RE as their reports seem very long for what you get. However I am not sure if I am "on hold" with them at the moment anyhow, I did a MS on Tuesday, submitted the report and photo that evening.

However the payment for that is still in pending (this was the second MS I have done for them and the first payment moved within 24 hrs of the report going on). I have not had any contact from them to query anything.

I have just tried to apply for some shops which would be ideal for me but keep getting the error message "Sorry, you are not eligible for this job" so I wonder if I have been put on hold for something. Anyone any theories??

[Noddy2]

Hi

my wife enquired a little while ago about doing mystery shopping via a website, something like ukmysteryshopper.com. I was pretty sceptical about having to pay some sort of initial fee to work via them and so she left it. We keep getting emails from them and I meant to investigate further, thinking MSE would be a good place to start, but haven't got round to it.

We know nothing about these schemes - is it normal to pay an initial fee to join up? Apologies if this is a real basic question :o

cheers
Nod

[Grace & Favour]

Hi

my wife enquired a little while ago about doing mystery shopping via a website, something like ukmysteryshopper.com. I was pretty sceptical about having to pay some sort of initial fee to work via them and so she left it. We keep getting emails from them and I meant to investigate further, thinking MSE would be a good place to start, but haven't got round to it.

We know nothing about these schemes - is it normal to pay an initial fee to join up? Apologies if this is a real basic question :o

cheers
Nod
Noddy

I understand there is a thriving scam market (similar to type 419's) asking for upfront fees to go mystery shopping

Don't touch those with a bargepole

[Noddy2]

Noddy

I understand there is a thriving scam market (similar to type 419's) asking for upfront fees to go mystery shopping

Don't touch those with a bargepole


Thanks G&F

that was my impression! Having just read a bit on MSE I realise there a whole host of companies offering mystery shopper work (with no upfront fee!). I think our problem will be that we live in a quite rural area, so it could mean a bit of travelling. But we need extra income, so I reckon we might sign up - perhaps the both of us. Could be fun.

cheers
Nod

[Grace & Favour]

Thanks G&F

that was my impression! Having just read a bit on MSE I realise there a whole host of companies offering mystery shopper work (with no upfront fee!). I think our problem will be that we live in a quite rural area, so it could mean a bit of travelling. But we need extra income, so I reckon we might sign up - perhaps the both of us. Could be fun.

cheers
Nod


and there's a limited number of organisations wanting shopping comparisons for Cromer Crabs aren't there? :D

[Noddy2]

and there's a limited number of organisations wanting shopping comparisons for Cromer Crabs aren't there? :D

too right :rolleyes:

[shopsomemore]

I used to do mystery shopping but no longer - last job I did was a ski trip !! The woman said they were the best reports she had ever read and made her laugh for weeks!! But then again we HAD to stay in the nighclubs till two in the morning and HAD to drink cocktails - (so funny). But before that we HAD to do Apres Ski and check out the bands (with beer??)- Oh and eat in the nice pizza places - before which we HAD to have lunch with wine and the rest - This was just after a snack which had been before breakfast and inbetween all this was the skiing!! Mighty hard work that was. Absolutely shattered and ****ed by the end of it all - no wonder she was laughing for weeks!!
Think things have changed a bit in a few years. And I think there is also alot more competition and the pay has gone down? But that was a good one!!
Alot of reports on that one!!

[shopsomemore]

Are you already working/employed/self employed?

If you are none of the above, perhaps even if you already are, I would wait a bit - you have 3? months to inform them if you are going self employed. So no rush there.
Some of the places take N.I off you so treat you as employed, others you need to be self employed for.
Just when you start be organised keep a track of all expenses,petrol,miles,what you get paid for the job - all of it.

[black cat]

Thanks, as you say the jury is still out on RE as their reports seem very long for what you get. However I am not sure if I am "on hold" with them at the moment anyhow, I did a MS on Tuesday, submitted the report and photo that evening.

However the payment for that is still in pending (this was the second MS I have done for them and the first payment moved within 24 hrs of the report going on). I have not had any contact from them to query anything.

I have just tried to apply for some shops which would be ideal for me but keep getting the error message "Sorry, you are not eligible for this job" so I wonder if I have been put on hold for something. Anyone any theories??

I had send a question about this to RE, I have not had a reply to that but today got a message saying the the scan of the reciept was not clear enough and I was to re-submit this. I have done that and the payment has moved to the "due" section but I still can not select any shops. Oh well I will see if it sorts itself out overnight

[ukmonkey]

Black cat, is your "status" (top right of the RE screen I think?) still showing as "probationary"(sp? - irony!) ???

When you sign up to RE, you are initially a probationer, until you've done your first job, and it's been approved. Then, you move to "Active" (can take anything from a day to a few weeks to change, but generally should be within a week).

Whilst you're a probationer, you can only accept one job at a time, do you already have a job booked out (as in one that you're due to do soon)?

[black cat]

Black cat, is your "status" (top right of the RE screen I think?) still showing as "probationary"(sp? - irony!) ???

When you sign up to RE, you are initially a probationer, until you've done your first job, and it's been approved. Then, you move to "Active" (can take anything from a day to a few weeks to change, but generally should be within a week).

Whilst you're a probationer, you can only accept one job at a time, do you already have a job booked out (as in one that you're due to do soon)?

It is showing as "Probationary (with job)" but I do not have anything booked with them going forward? I have done two jobs for them, the first was two weeks ago and the second last week. There were no queries on the first one and as I said I had to re-send my reciept for the second one.

My score is showing as "0" at the top of the page.

With any luck I am just stuck between the Probationary and Active status and it will get sorted out tomorrow. There are a nice series of jobs I could do next week if it would just let me :)

[Becles]

They are having teething troubles with the new website. I've been with RE for years, but was accidentally put back on probation for no reason! I've had no points awarded for jobs completed since the change, and I know I'm not the only one.

[Homer J Simpson]

You need to tell IR within about a month of becoming self employed (well you're supposed to) as long as you tell them and file the return in time I doubt they will be that bothered.

With regards to £3.09 and £3 paid back, 9p is not your exepnse. £3.09 was your expense and £3 was your income so your loss is 9p.

Don't forget that fuel/travel expense (I think you can claim 40p a mile for use of your car) are also tax deductable as are other things that you need to do the job. i.e. internet, pc, printer, paper postage etc etc. Keep receipts for everything.

Don't forget that you can get money back from IR if you make a loss.

i.e. you've paid £2k in PAYE take through your 9-5 job, but you make a total loss of £200 setting yourself up for your new self employment (within the same tax year). The IR owe you the loss you made - so make sure you claim it back.

Trust me I know this works. As I've told people on here I buy & sell on eBay. So my expense is my stock. Thanks to a well timed purchase (just before the end of the tax year), I made a loss and the IR gave me £4k to cover the loss.

Of course, this (tax) year once I've sold the stock I'll have to pay tax on the sales as the purchase was already written off as a loss.

Not sure if I explained that well, but any questions, just ask !

[ukmonkey]

Don't forget that you can get money back from IR if you make a loss.

i.e. you've paid £2k in PAYE take through your 9-5 job, but you make a total loss of £200 setting yourself up for your new self employment (within the same tax year). The IR owe you the loss you made - so make sure you claim it back.

Not strictly true, though I'm sure you *DO* know, but just haven't quite explained it 100% correctly.

What HJS means is that if you make a £200 loss, the IR don't owe you the £200, instead they owe you the tax that you've paid on £200 of your income c20% so c£40.

Correct me if I'm wrong and you're right HJS, please do, as I'd be in line for another payout from HMRC!

Trust me I know this works.

:D

[ukmonkey]

p.s. HJS, if you have anymore "tips" (I'm sure you know what I mean!) I'd *LOVE* to hear them! :)

[Homer J Simpson]

Not strictly true, though I'm sure you *DO* know, but just haven't quite explained it 100% correctly.

What HJS means is that if you make a £200 loss, the IR don't owe you the £200, instead they owe you the tax that you've paid on £200 of your income c20% so c£40.

Correct me if I'm wrong and you're right HJS, please do, as I'd be in line for another payout from HMRC!

:D

No, they cover your losses up to the amount you paid in tax.

Example being you earn £20k a year.

For arguments sake you pay £4k in tax.
You become self employed and make a loss of £3k in the same tax year.
IR will refund you the £3k.

If you made a loss of £8k, they would only give you back the £4k but you could 'carry' the loss over to the next tax year.

It's all about timing. I'm planing to get another £2.5k back this year

And, it's perfectly legit. They wouldn't give you the cheque if it wasn't !

[ukmonkey]

bug.g.er. Do you have a source for this?

Don't suppose I can amend my tax return now then. guttardio.

Will need to double check, but I'm pretty sure that I've only claimed (and received) 20% of my net profit (which was a loss).


Hmmm.

[Homer J Simpson]

Sorry, I don't understand how your net profit can be a loss.

My source is my own tax returns & cheques received back from IR.

[ukmonkey]

I meant total profit/loss.

Looking on various websites in the early hours of this morning, it seems that you're mistaken sadly. Off to work in a min though so don't have time to find links etc for you.

[maira]

Hello,
does anyone have an idea how much can I claim for internet?