canuck27 Wrote:
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> itsasecret Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The company you contract with needs to
> > have the legal right to work in the country,
> not
> > the individual contractors they hire.
> Employees
> > might have different rules. That's my
> > understanding, anyway. It's unlikely there
> would
> > be any profit to declare anyway.
>
> That is some pretty dangerous advice, for two
> reasons:
>
> 1) It doesn't matter how little you earn, all
> income (and the value of anything received) must
> be reported.
> 2) Non-immigrants cannot earn self-employment
> income without a visa authorizing employment.
For one thing, I wasn't giving advice. I was stating what my understanding is, which came from someone who does international shops (not on this forum).
It probably matters WHO is paying you. If you are an American traveling in Europe doing work for an American company, you did not receive any income from any European employer. If you are an American hired by a European MSC, getting paid by them, the situation might be different.
If I go on an overseas or cross border tour and later get paid by the American tour company (who set up the foreign tour) for a review I did of the tour, or received a discount or reimbursement of the tour price in exchange for the review, how is that the business of the foreign government where the tour took place?
Probably the rules depend on agreements between your country of citizenship/residence and the country where you are doing the mystery shop. I know the United States will tax citizens' income no matter who pays them, but I'm not sure any country I set foot in has any claim on money I received for a report I did on one of their local businesses.
Keep in mind, the payment itself comes to you long after you leave foreign soil, comes to your residence, and the MSC is not likely to have reason to report it to the other government especially if it doesn't exceed some threshold, like our $600 for a 1099.
Sure would be nice if someone who has shopped internationally would chime in here. I'm interested in this because I hope to take a trip to Europe this fall and would like to MS while there if possible.
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I pray it does not occur that the last thing I did before I died was vacuum the house or eat broccoli.