Hi! I have a CPA. She is great, but not in the know of all the ins and outs of mystery shopping. I don't even fully understand some of the intricacies. I have done several Presto Insta Shops and received a 1099. I just noticed that many of those were actually with Ipsos or Intellishop. I received a 1099 from Ipsos. Is that income recorded on both of those 1099's. How do I figure this out? And when I am recording my income from Intellishop, which was less than $600, do I just not include the ones that would have been reported on the Presto 1099?

I am not sure as I have not looked at any of my 1099's as of yet, and I honestly don't rely on them. I would suggest, you start keeping a spreadsheet on your own to track your payments so you know what is a payment, what is a reimbursement, etc. Your 1099's will include money that was reimbursed to you for things purchased (if you did shops like that). If you did not track shops like that, you are going to have to go back and break it apart. If the IRS ever came to you and asked to explain why there is a difference from the 1099 and your reported income, how do you plan on explaining the difference? You must keep records of your own, at minimum, the MSC, the shop you did, the fee paid and the reimbursement amount.

There are many threads on taxes in this forum, you can do a search for tax and you may find the answer you need.

Thanks. I do keep records, but I also need to submit these 1099's. I am asking this question to help explain the difference. I am confused about how the companies are structured, and what is reported where. I have not found this question asked when I have done a search.

This is very helpful. I think it would help if I understood what exactly the shops on Presto are, and why some shops from, say ipsos or confero, are done through that and others through their website. Do you understand the difference?

Completed Presto shops from an MSC using Presto's platform, get paid by Presto. The MSC's have paid the cost of the fees and reimbursements for their shops in advance to Presto. Presto, in turn, pays the IC directly, via PayPal. So, those shops from Presto are what would be listed on Presto's 1099-NEC. And it would be a total of any and all MSC's that had their shops available via Presto. The MSC's will not re-list those with their 1099-NEC's.

The MSC's will provide a 1099-NEC for the shops you did through their own platform(s). But, some of the companies lump fees and reimbursements together on the 1099-NEC they issue and some do not. That is where your records come in. Your records should have the totals you earned as fees and the totals you earned as reimbursements, hopefully, categorized by each company, for clarity and good bookkeeping. So, if, for example, you earned $8,000 in fees, along with $1,000 in reimbursements from one of the MSC's, and you received a 1099-NEC that listed your earnings as $8,000, then you know that 1099-NEC is correct and you do not need to make adjustments on your tax return, for that one. If the 1099-NEC showed your income as $9,000, you know they included the reimbursements and fees together and you will have to make the adjustment on your return.

If you made a small amount with a company that paid you via PayPal, the 1099-K issued by PayPal will list everything you got paid from all companies and it includes the total of fees and reimbursements lumped together. You may not have received a 1099-NEC for the small amount that 1099-K had included. Think of the 1099-K from PayPal as a reference for all monies paid to you via PayPal from any company, no matter how small. The IRS will get that 1099-K information. And if you only include the 1099-NEC's you received on your return, the IRS will see the discrepancy. Your return should show all income. Whether paid via PayPal, check, direct deposit, etc. The reimbursements have their place on your return as well.

Thank you! I see exactly what you’re talking about. Some of my payments ipsos show up at zero pay because they were paid through Presto. I even have some on Presto that say this payment was not handled by Presto. So I really appreciate the clarification!!

Thank you! Appreciate you taking the time to clarify!