To think my friend should be paying tax on this?

[Tired75643]

My friend is a stay at home mum to 2 young DC, husband earns just enough for her not to work while kids are young, no universal credit.
She mentioned the other day she gets extra income from doing online surveys, phone interviews and tests etc and has been earning about £200 a month from it for the last few months. It came up because she was using gift cards for all her purchases when we were shopping one day, she explained that if she gets paid via PayPal then she would have to pay tax after making £100, but if she takes it out as gift cards (Tesco, Amazon, Love2Shop etc) then she doesn't.
Essentially she's getting paid as much as she can in vouchers and using them instead of cash to avoid being taxed.
Is she right? Or does it still count as earnings as she is still getting the same financial amount from it? My friend can be a bit head in the clouds and I'm worried she might end up having to pay back money she won't have, or getting herself into trouble

I

Wow ! Their are billionaires dodging tax left right and centre.

The whole tone of your OP is begrudging. It’s none of your business.

Thank you those with helpful input I appreciate the information. I'll back away from the thread as clearly I'm an idiot.

This is a friend of yours , OP?
Wow just wow!!!!

I am soo thankful I have very few " friends!"

She’s well under her personal allowance so she wouldn’t be taxed anyway.

It’s completely legal to get gift cards to avoid tax I understand. My employer gave me a £100 voucher for 5 years service. It was a Mastercard £100 so could literally spend it anywhere but if they gave me £100 cash I’d have had to pay tax on it. So I think gift cards are a valid and legal way to be paid in this instance.

I understood what you meant, that you are worried that she should be declaring this in case it turns out she should have been paying tax on it. But as others have said, it is well below her personal tax allowance and as she doesnt claim any benefits she isnt committing fraud so nothing to worry about.

I have done similar to your friend, but for smaller amounts. I always get gift cards as cash just gets swallowed up in day to day spends. Whereas a gift card I spend on something nice

I say keep your nose out. She isn’t some fat cat business person swindling the gov for millions. She’s just a parent trying to get by.

hows she doing it

asking For a friend

The personal allowance is c. £12700, there's no tax due on £200 pm if that's her only income.

FFS you want her to pay the tax on the 200 a month she makes extra? With friends like you, who needs enemies.

I would like to know how the hell she is getting £200 a month as when I have ever signed up to these things the return is next to nothing?!

There wouldn't even be any tax to pay I think

Agree. I tried it years ago... barely made £10 😂

👋🏽 👋🏽

That is well below the tax free allowance, so she should be able to just get paid into her account for it without the need of gift cards.
Is she declaring this work. Because it may help for her pension, even if not taxable? I would ask citizens advice about it.

I tried once done, barely worth it, unless she's doing something different

You want your "friend" to pay tax on £2,400 per year?!? Um, no.

Legally, she should be declaring it but she won’t need to pay tax or NI. Submitting a self-assessment for such a low sum is an absolute waste of HMRC resources.

Hopefully your friend will wake up and smell the twat she has for a friend.

How do I do this

She must have every Ipsos type company and spend hours a day dedicated to them

I get some phone call surveys offered which pay £20ish but the timing is clearly for those who don't work

Swagbucks and Mistplay are my two platforms I use to get a little extra every now and then for those asking 🤣

I make at least £100 a month on Prolific doing studies. It's probably the best paying tester site as it doesn't screen you out and has a minimum pay per hour but it also has a waiting list.

As a person not in regular employment I make a decent amount but less than OPs friend (save it all with my Vinted earnings to pay for a decent weekend away after Christmas) and I use -

Prolific for surveys
Angelfish, Bunnyfield and Focus for People for actual market research/focus groups

You are all very welcome but don't all sign up as that's less earnings for me!!!

On Prolific I easily make at least a tenner a week. Soon adds up

As long as she's within her allowance, she doesn't have to pay tax.

All earnings, in theory, have to be declared, but HMRC won't thank anyone for extra work that yields bugger all.