I started mystery shopping as a second source of income in the fall and currently do $150-200 a week. I started with Jobslinger and signed up for multiple Sassie boards. I check them daily and also get emails. Is Jobslinger Plus worth it? What other ways can I increase my shop opportunities?
Also, anticipating doing more in 2025 means more income to tax. I see people talking about tracking mileage, I assume part time shopping won't generate enough work to qualify for itemized deductions-am I wrong?

I'm way more part time than you are. I don't track my km because I only shop at places I'm already at.
I'm sure your level is worth tracking expenses.

@XterraTom wrote:

I started mystery shopping as a second source of income in the fall and currently do $150-200 a week. I started with Jobslinger and signed up for multiple Sassie boards. I check them daily and also get emails. Is Jobslinger Plus worth it? What other ways can I increase my shop opportunities?
Also, anticipating doing more in 2025 means more income to tax. I see people talking about tracking mileage, I assume part time shopping won't generate enough work to qualify for itemized deductions-am I wrong?

I track my mileage at the IRS deduction rate. So, if I have $4000 in shop fees, but I drove 1000 miles (I think that's 670.50 or something like that), my taxable income is only 3229.50 or something like that (I just enter it into the computer and it does it for me).

The more shops you do, the better to actively maintain records along the way.

For mileage, the one piece of advice I would give is to take a picture of your odometer/total miles on the last day of the calendar/tax year and on the first day of the next calendar/tax year. (Thanks for rejogging my memory!) As someone who procrastinates and is not good at actively maintaining records, this at least gives you something to work with.

If taking the standard mileage rate, you may want to research what part of the trip is eligible to deduct. Also, if applicable, keep track of expenses like tolls and parking related to the shops.

Presto, Mobi Audit and ISecretShop are all apps that offer jobs from multiple MSCs.

If you're relatively new to mystery shopping, you may, if you haven't already, want to check out this thread on our forum for new mystery shoppers. There's LOTS of good info here. I've been MSing since 2005, and every so often I STILL refer to some of the posts there! Check it out....[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

XT:

Whether or not you itemize deductions has nothing to do with the importance and relevance of tracking expenses/mileage.

Whether you itemize deductions or not, you will use IRS Form SCHEDULE C to report self employment sales, expenses and earnings/losses.

XterraTom: Itemizing deductions on Schedule A is for certain personal and employee related expenditures. Your mystery shopping is neither of those. Your mystery shopping is considered self-employment income and the proper tax form for it is Schedule C. Schedule C is where you list your income and expenses, and come up with a net taxable income that is used to calculate your self-employment tax and is added to the rest of your income to calculate your income tax.
You should absolutely keep track of every last dime of income earned, and every last dime of expenses that you incur. Mile driven is an expense, keep track of the miles you drive for your business. You can still build an accurate accounting for your miles driven for 2024 using Google Maps and a record of the shops that you did. In 2025 you can start from the beginning and keep a log of your miles driven. You should also be keeping track of your other expenses that you incur from the operation of your business.
Do a search on this site and read the threads on taxes. It will be worth your time.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2024 09:49PM by teacherguy.

First, take tax advice here with a grain of salt - whether from me or someone else. I strongly point you in the direction of "Not Your Dad's CPA" on YouTube, who you can find here: [www.youtube.com]

He works with resellers like myself, but also explains tax issues that apply to anybody who is engaging in self-employment work, whether as a hobbyist or as a business person.

Speaking of, you need to understand that the IRS will decide whether your mystery shopping activities are a hobby or a business. They will base this on several factors, including what was the goal of the activity. You state you started mystery shopping as a second source of income. That's good, as that is something the IRS will consider. If your goal is to make money, then you need to conduct mystery shopping as a business - which means keeping records. Maybe even having a business plan, stating your goals, and how you may grow your business. Start-ups lose money the first few years and the IRS understands this. You can take a loss for 3 out of 5 years - but you do need to eventually show a profit, even if it is a small one. Otherwise, the IRS will say you have a hobby, which means you get to pay the taxes on the income, but don't get to take the deductions that come along with running a business. The degree to which you style and keep your records can vary, but you need to have something to point to should the IRS classify you as a hobby or have questions on your assertion that you are a business.

I don't use Jobslinger, so I can't respond as to whether the extra cost for Plus is worth it.

Keep your expectations realistic. Your time is worth something. After 6-months of shopping, I would go back and do an analysis on whether what you have made after all your expense is worth your time. It might be tedious to keep up with how many hours you are working (including drive time, reading and printing guidelines, and finding shops), but it is very easy to appear on paper that you are doing well, then when you work the math you discover you are making $8/hour. Maybe $8/hour is worth your time, because of the flexibility and not having a boss per-se. That may not be the case for someone else, and that's okay. You have to run your business in a manner that works for you, not others. Taxes is what you do not want to compromise on, as that can come back to bite you down the line.

As far as itemizing, this pertains to your INCOME taxes. I think the others have already addressed that well. The standard deduction for single filers is going up to $14,600 for 2024 (and $15,000 for 2025). For married filing jointly, the standard deduction is $29,200 for 2024. You will likely not have enough businesses expenses to itemize your income taxes, but if you have other qualifying deductions; like mortgagee interest, donations, state and local taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and so on. The list is quite extensive, BUT you need to have records. For many people with lower incomes, the standard deduction will almost always be better, especially if you do not have records to back-up your deductions. If it does not take up too much of your time and you can be organized, it never hurts to keep records and make the decision at tax time. I probably would only worry about itemizing if I thought I would have enough deductions to be 15% more than the standard deduction. That's just because of the time factor involved with keeping up with those extra records and additional costs to a tax preparer, if you don't do your taxes yourself. Those tax prep costs can be written off if you itemize though.

As a business, you will have to address Self-Employment taxes. Again, records are important here since you can take business expenses off of your SE taxes. You should be paying SE taxes quarterly. SE taxes include social security and medicare. Combined they work out to be 15.3% of your net business income after business deductions. What I do every quarter is to total up my gross business income for the quarter, then deduct my business deductions for that quarter.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2024 10:57PM by ServiceAward.

@XterraTom wrote:

I started mystery shopping as a second source of income in the fall and currently do $150-200 a week. I started with Jobslinger and signed up for multiple Sassie boards. I check them daily and also get emails. Is Jobslinger Plus worth it? What other ways can I increase my shop opportunities?
Also, anticipating doing more in 2025 means more income to tax. I see people talking about tracking mileage, I assume part time shopping won't generate enough work to qualify for itemized deductions-am I wrong?

I would say the "plus" is not worth it. Its hard to imagine how much they could offer you that you can't get for free. I see where they say they will text you jobs....I already have that happening. I am actually pretty annoyed when I get phone calls and messages from MSCs since I've already checked the 15 or so I shop for regularly and am aware of the price-checks and oil changes that have been on the board since I was in High School (I'm in my 50's now--LOL). That deserves another LOL.

As for opportunities...here is one thing that helps me. I know the names of the people who do the scheduling for the evaluations and projects I perform. I'll give you an example from 12/19--10 days ago. I was headed to San Antonio but wanted to do some shops to offset the costs. There were some jobs that were due on 12/19 on the route. But there were some that were due in 12/17 and 12/18 as well. An e-mail from one scheduler said, "name your price." So I did--I named a price and said I could only do it on the 19th. They assigned it to me. Likewise on 2 other shops. I ended up doing 7 shops that day--4 of which I did because the scheduler extended the due date for me. Now, it was likely going to be extended anyway but my point is that I knew who to contact, and the job had been on the board for a while. So I would say that getting to know Jane Doe at the MSC and knowing that she does the burger joints and the car washes is worth the time and effort

@ServiceAward wrote:

First, take tax advice here with a grain of salt - whether from me or someone else.

...

As far as itemizing, this pertains to your INCOME taxes. I think the others have already addressed that well. The standard deduction for single filers is going up to $14,600 for 2024 (and $15,000 for 2025). For married filing jointly, the standard deduction is $29,200 for 2024. You will likely not have enough businesses expenses to itemize your income taxes, but if you have other qualifying deductions; like mortgagee interest, donations, state and local taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and so on. The list is quite extensive, BUT you need to have records. For many people with lower incomes, the standard deduction will almost always be better, especially if you do not have records to back-up your deductions.

Business expenses from self-employment do not count for itemizing deductions (Schedule A). They go on Schedule C. I agree - take tax advice here with a grain of salt

@boridi wrote:

@ServiceAward wrote:

First, take tax advice here with a grain of salt - whether from me or someone else.

...

As far as itemizing, this pertains to your INCOME taxes. I think the others have already addressed that well. The standard deduction for single filers is going up to $14,600 for 2024 (and $15,000 for 2025). For married filing jointly, the standard deduction is $29,200 for 2024. You will likely not have enough businesses expenses to itemize your income taxes, but if you have other qualifying deductions; like mortgagee interest, donations, state and local taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and so on. The list is quite extensive, BUT you need to have records. For many people with lower incomes, the standard deduction will almost always be better, especially if you do not have records to back-up your deductions.

Business expenses from self-employment do not count for itemizing deductions (Schedule A). They go on Schedule C. I agree - take tax advice here with a grain of salt

There are creative ways to do it, but you can't double-dip. You can also deduct 1/2 of your SE taxes from your net income. That may be a separate line item on the 1040 - I can't remember - so it may not factor in to itemizing if that's the case.

Talk to a CPA or get a free consultation from one and ask them questions regarding taxes that you might will encounter. Ask them what you can deduct. Ask them what you can do differently to pay less taxes.

If you can afford it, use the CPA. They can be pricey but worth it. Their fees are also a tax deduction. I highly recommend a CPA. I use the same one every year. It cost me about $1,000 to file my taxes with them but I get unlimited Q&A's and have their personal cell phone number. Plus, we do a yearly review to make sure I'm on the right track and talk about next years goals every year.