Hi,
I have looked though the forum and have found tons of info on US taxes, but almost none for Canada. Anyone have any info on Canadian taxes. Do you have to worry about companies where your fees (minus reimbursement) do not exceed $600? Do you have to keep track of your expenses? Also, if your Canadian would you have do make a claim with the IRS if you do a shop on a trip to NYC for example?

Thanks in advance

My understanding in Canada it is $150.00 not $600 as per the U.S. We do not get .55 cent per mile for expense instead which I think is much better you have to figure out everything.
new car $600.00 month payment, car insurance and gas and oil changes etc. then figure out what percentage is use for mystery shop. I use my car 75% of the time for shopping ,so from my car monthly payment $450.00 is an expense plus all the maintenance on it.
Speeding ticket are not tax deductable.
Any meal bought on the road are tax deductible as expense.
While shopping the shop pays $10.00 plus purchase (15.00)
your income would be $25.00 and expense $15.00

got to go my 3 years old need me.

Just claim enough in expenses to reduce your shopping income to zero, or as close as you can. My auto expenses are enough to do that. If need be, you can also include home office expenses, meals, etc. For the auto and office expenses, you need to figure out the percentage used for your business. The standard percentage for a home office is 15% of all of your costs - mortgage, taxes, heating, phone, etc.
The occasional shop on a trip you would not need to worry about, only if your income in the US exceeds $600.

lindab -- Does Canada have different rules for home offices? For US taxes, there is no "standard percentage" for a home office. It is based on the square footage of the office space and the square footage of the house. Most "spare rooms" in typical homes are 10x10 feet. If the house is 1500 square feet, the home office is 1/15 which is more like 7% than 15. And that only works if the whole room is used ONLY for business. If half of it is for your business and the other half is for your sewing room, you can only count the portion of the room that is used for business. And you can't take the phone into the computation for home office. I would think the computations would be similar but maybe Canada allows things the US doesn't?

When I started I phoned Canada Revenue and asked what I needed to know for tax purpose. It took 3 days before a senior personnel returned my call.
You figure all your expenses for home and car. Then what percentage of it is use for the business.
My first year I got $4,400.00 back because I have a secure job. Of course I was audited and found out speeding ticket was the only thing I could not claim. ( I tried lol)
I was audited again in 2008 and 2009. everything was good. I must be due again to be audited.
Every year I get a large return because of my other job.

only doing it part time as a tax ride off.

Here in the United States, if you are only "in business" to create a tax write off with no hope or expectation of generating a taxable profit (over time), your losses will be disallowed and the enterprise ruled a hobby (where losses cannot be deducted) instead of a legitimate business (where losses CAN be deducted against other income).

My tax preparer explained to me that you must be able to prove a "profit motive" in order to deduct losses. If you run too many years without a profit, they can audit you and disallow the losses if they find you are deliberately engaged in a losing business in order to save taxes on your other income, or writing off something that was never really a business in order to save taxes. For instance if I were breeding dogs and it cost more to raise them than I could get for the puppies, if I write off the loss and it is determined that the price of these puppies in my area has never exceeded the cost to feed the female, pay the stud fee, pay for tail docking and vaccinations, and to feed the puppies until they are old enough to wean, then it is clear that I am not in this to make a profit, but for personal reasons and the losses will be disallowed and I'll have to pay not only the taxes but interest and penalties for trying to write it off in the first place.

If you're in mystery shopping to get free meals and generate a tax write-off you're not in business and shouldn't write off your losses and should put your income as hobby income (same as I would have to do with the dog breeding enterprise I was contemplating).

If Canada lets you write off losses year after year even though you're not trying to make a profit, I want to move to Canada!

Sorry itsasecret, you have to have a reasonable expectation of making a profit at some time in Canada as well. You're welcome to move here though. As of yesterday morning not even a corner of my garden had appeared from under the snow.

Sounds like cherisepearl needs to rethink her tax strategy then.

Well, if she/he was audited things must be in order. But I know I am not allowed to show a loss year after year. If my expenses always are more than earnings, my deductions won't be allowed.

My losses are less now than at first.
Because of my full time job, I can only do this part-time.

After all the real reason of been self-employed is for all the deductable stuff that you have to pay for anyway.
ie: car and all car expenses like new tires, oil change, car wash, any repairs, home mortgage or rent and utilities bills.
Even your driver's license and car registration. Now we have to remember only a percentage of those we can claim.

I think I will call the tax person, Revenue Canada on Tuesday to see if anything has change lately. Then 2 or 3 days later I shall get a call from a senior staff.

The reason for me to be self-employed is to make money, not to offset taxes from a full-time job.

Torste Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Do you
> have to keep track of your expenses? Also, if your
> Canadian would you have do make a claim with the
> IRS if you do a shop on a trip to NYC for
> example?
>
> Thanks in advance

Yes you need to keep track of everything. Like others have stated, using a vehicle is based on % of use, not a mileage claim. For some of us, making so many deductions to make your income $0 would be nearly impossible because of the number of shops we perform.

As for the NYC situation, forget the IRS until you have a work visa. You cannot work legally in the USA (even for yourself, which is what you're doing!) without a work visa or an acceptable immigration status. I'm actually kinda shocked that companies will allow you accept jobs in the USA without providing a SSN. But from a practical standpoint, I don't blame you if you've done them.

It's no different than a US tourist reporting on a hotel in London while on vacation. Or being a contractor working in Iraq for an American company. 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.

In the US we can either use the percentage of our car expenses OR take a flat amount per mile.

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.

Can't Canadian citizens be admitted under the Visa Waiver Program?

This is from the USCIS website, [www.uscis.gov]:

Temporary Visitors for Business

To visit the United State for Business you will need to obtain a Temporary Visitors for Business Visa, unless you qualify for admission without a visa under the Visa Waiver Program.

The table below describes the different classifications of temporary business visitors. For more information on eligibility and the application process, see the links under “Temporary Visitors for Business” to the left.

Temporary Visitors for Business B-1

Temporary business visitor to conduct activities of a commercial or professional nature. For example, consult with business associates, negotiate a contract, or attend a business conference WB

Temporary visitor for Business admitted under Visa Waiver Program GB

canuck27 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 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.