Sounds like a drug problem with atkinsod1...
Shopping Bama and parts of Georgia.
I'm still learning 24/7.
I'm still learning 24/7.
EIN NUMBER
EIN# is free, and given out by the IRS if you have a business.
The post about car phones, what's up with that? Wrong forum maybe.
The post about car phones, what's up with that? Wrong forum maybe.
Live consciously....
karen A Wrote:
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> I never got one and am still getting jobs. It
> costs between $90 and $125 to get an EIN number.
> It's not free like you were told.
EIN is free and takes a few minutes online. Perhaps you were thinking about a fee for incorporating?
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> I never got one and am still getting jobs. It
> costs between $90 and $125 to get an EIN number.
> It's not free like you were told.
EIN is free and takes a few minutes online. Perhaps you were thinking about a fee for incorporating?
If you Google EIN, two of the first three sites are very "official" sounding .com companies. The .com sites will be happy to charge you a hefty fee. Anyone trying to get an EIN should ONLY be looking at the .gov sites.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
I do have an EIN number. I use it where ever/when ever possible. The reason for this is that I have personally been a victim of Identiy Theft. That being said, I prefer to protect my social security number like Fort Knox.
karen - I do not know what or where you are getting your info about the EIN costing money. It does not, believe me. I just got one and it did not cost me a dime.
rsa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do have an EIN number. I use it where ever/when
> ever possible. The reason for this is that I have
> personally been a victim of Identiy Theft. That
> being said, I prefer to protect my social security
> number like Fort Knox.
I just got one through TS. Thanks for the post. Never thought of it that way.
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do have an EIN number. I use it where ever/when
> ever possible. The reason for this is that I have
> personally been a victim of Identiy Theft. That
> being said, I prefer to protect my social security
> number like Fort Knox.
I just got one through TS. Thanks for the post. Never thought of it that way.
I would not have either had that not happened. I have actually had mine for years for my business. Since it ties to my personal name, according to the IRS, I can use it for MS. Unless of course I Incorporate.
Okay. Do you have to pay taxes or get back taxes when you have an Ein? So is it good or bad to have one? I'm Confused.
Erica, all income is reportable for income taxes whether or not you have an EIN. Reported income will be taxed or not taxed based on many variables, but whether you have an EIN will not affect the amount of income tax you owe or any refund you may receive.
You do not have to have an EIN to run a mystery shopping business unless (1) you have employees, or (2) you are working for a mystery shopping company that requires you to have one.
You do not have to have an EIN to run a mystery shopping business unless (1) you have employees, or (2) you are working for a mystery shopping company that requires you to have one.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
If you are an independent contractor you are in business for yourself. Although the IRS does not require an EIN number it really is to your benefit. First of all, it is free.
The biggest benefit is keeping your Social Secuirty number from getting into the wrong hands Having an EIN number (as far as I know) has no benefit to ID thieves. ID theft is the number 1 growing crime. So, why not get an EIN?
We require a W-9 for ALL shoppers. The W-9 gives you the option of entering a SS# or an EIN#.
The reason for the W-9? If we get audited we have to show who we paid as an independent contractor and we could be asked to provide the W-9's. The IRS does not care which number you use.
The biggest benefit is keeping your Social Secuirty number from getting into the wrong hands Having an EIN number (as far as I know) has no benefit to ID thieves. ID theft is the number 1 growing crime. So, why not get an EIN?
We require a W-9 for ALL shoppers. The W-9 gives you the option of entering a SS# or an EIN#.
The reason for the W-9? If we get audited we have to show who we paid as an independent contractor and we could be asked to provide the W-9's. The IRS does not care which number you use.
Exactly. To quote the above poster, "The Irs does not care which numberyou use."
HOWEVER, your stae or local taxing authorities may decide that because you have an EIN, you owe them some taxes that you would not owe if you just used your SSN.
LOOK, your SSN is all over the place already. No one who is really interested is going to raid MDC files to get it. This whole EIN business if a bunch of malarky!
Please do a search on "EIN" and "all dates" for the be all and end all of discussions of this topic.
HOWEVER, your stae or local taxing authorities may decide that because you have an EIN, you owe them some taxes that you would not owe if you just used your SSN.
LOOK, your SSN is all over the place already. No one who is really interested is going to raid MDC files to get it. This whole EIN business if a bunch of malarky!
Please do a search on "EIN" and "all dates" for the be all and end all of discussions of this topic.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
And a new post on the mystery shopping taxes sticky has just advocated the use of both an EIN and business bank account.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
Groan! Yes, that can of phony worms has been opened yet again!
Note that the new poster there says he/she is a "tax preparer" NOT an "enrolled" tax advisor. Anyone can prepare taxes for a few months a year with H&R Bolock, with minimal training. That does NOT prepare them to advise business owners on tax law and regulations. That new poster is, very clearly, NOT up on the subject of when and how to claim mileage, as is clearly demonstrated in that new post on that thread. We have established, through very painful give and take, with specific, page by page, and flow chart reference to official IRS guides, what is the proper route to writing off mileage, and that poster DOES NOT get it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2012 01:18PM by walesmaven.
Note that the new poster there says he/she is a "tax preparer" NOT an "enrolled" tax advisor. Anyone can prepare taxes for a few months a year with H&R Bolock, with minimal training. That does NOT prepare them to advise business owners on tax law and regulations. That new poster is, very clearly, NOT up on the subject of when and how to claim mileage, as is clearly demonstrated in that new post on that thread. We have established, through very painful give and take, with specific, page by page, and flow chart reference to official IRS guides, what is the proper route to writing off mileage, and that poster DOES NOT get it.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2012 01:18PM by walesmaven.
As the poster you are talking about, I have seen a LOT of misinformation on these boards already about taxes, not the least of which is the notion that having an EIN can cause something bad to happen. So I try to be helpful, and instead of being glad there is actually a tax expert here offering information, I get accused of being a fly-by night tax preparer whose only education was through the H&R course -- which I did have to take to get certified to do taxes in California, and I should have been teaching the class because the instructor was clueless and gave out misinformation at least three times that I noticed.
I noticed it because I happen to have a degree in Accounting, a full four-year Bachelor's degree, Magna Cum Laude, with an emphasis in taxation which means I took additional classes in taxation that about 2/3 of my fellow class members did NOT take, and many of them became CPA's which I CHOSE not to do (I had an offer from Price-Waterhouse) because my intention was to go to law school, not to be a CPA.
I am registered with the IRS and have passed the test that over 300,000 people who have prepared taxes in this country this year have NOT yet passed, and I've been doing taxes for over 15 years for individuals (including myself), corporations, partnerships, estates, and non-profits.
How many tax returns a year do YOU prepare? I do about 140. About half of those are business returns of one sort or another. I have written a series of articles on tax preparation and small business record-keeping that ran in the local paper here.
You want to trot out your credentials before you go telling everyone here I don't know what I'm talking about?
And being an enrolled agent doesn't mean omniscience. I have had to amend tax returns done by EA's and CPA's because THEY didn't understand certain areas of the tax code, or took an easier way out instead of doing it the right way, or made errors in math. One CPA's return I amended had overcharged the client over $20,000 in tax (that I recovered) due to double counting of income and carelessness in recording the sale of one of the client's businesses.
I do not make things up. If you think I gave misinformation in my post, tell me what it was. If I'm wrong, I will correct myself. The tax code can be very nebulous at times, and some things can be interpreted in different ways. But don't malign someone you don't even know without giving them a chance to defend themselves.
I came here to the bottom of this thread to impart the knowledge that having an EIN just gives you an alternative number to give to people instead of your SSN, which can be used to commit identity theft. An EIN cannot be abused in this manner. An EIN is free to get from irs.gov and takes just a few minutes. It is also one of the things, AS I SAID IN THE MUCH-MALIGNED OTHER POST I MADE ON THE SUBJECT, that helps demonstrate to the IRS that your shopping business IS a business and NOT a hobby.
If you are NOT a business, but ARE a hobby, then don't get an EIN. It won't do a thing for you except protect you from identity theft. If you ARE a business, you still don't HAVE to have one. But it can be useful if you are audited on whether you are a business or a hobby.
The point is, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is more likely to be a duck than to be a sparrow pretending to be a duck.
If you're really a business -- look and act like one. If you're not going to do what it takes to establish the seriousness of your enterprise, then don't expect to be treated like a business if you get audited.
There's a very small chance of any one of you being audited unless you are writing off large losses against other income from your shopping "business." But believe me, if you get audited, you will wish you had your ducks in a row all along because not looking like a duck may come back to bite you.
And thank you, walesmaven, for being so cordial and welcoming to a new member who tried to be helpful. I'll try to do something nice for you too someday.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2012 06:03AM by dspeakes.
I noticed it because I happen to have a degree in Accounting, a full four-year Bachelor's degree, Magna Cum Laude, with an emphasis in taxation which means I took additional classes in taxation that about 2/3 of my fellow class members did NOT take, and many of them became CPA's which I CHOSE not to do (I had an offer from Price-Waterhouse) because my intention was to go to law school, not to be a CPA.
I am registered with the IRS and have passed the test that over 300,000 people who have prepared taxes in this country this year have NOT yet passed, and I've been doing taxes for over 15 years for individuals (including myself), corporations, partnerships, estates, and non-profits.
How many tax returns a year do YOU prepare? I do about 140. About half of those are business returns of one sort or another. I have written a series of articles on tax preparation and small business record-keeping that ran in the local paper here.
You want to trot out your credentials before you go telling everyone here I don't know what I'm talking about?
And being an enrolled agent doesn't mean omniscience. I have had to amend tax returns done by EA's and CPA's because THEY didn't understand certain areas of the tax code, or took an easier way out instead of doing it the right way, or made errors in math. One CPA's return I amended had overcharged the client over $20,000 in tax (that I recovered) due to double counting of income and carelessness in recording the sale of one of the client's businesses.
I do not make things up. If you think I gave misinformation in my post, tell me what it was. If I'm wrong, I will correct myself. The tax code can be very nebulous at times, and some things can be interpreted in different ways. But don't malign someone you don't even know without giving them a chance to defend themselves.
I came here to the bottom of this thread to impart the knowledge that having an EIN just gives you an alternative number to give to people instead of your SSN, which can be used to commit identity theft. An EIN cannot be abused in this manner. An EIN is free to get from irs.gov and takes just a few minutes. It is also one of the things, AS I SAID IN THE MUCH-MALIGNED OTHER POST I MADE ON THE SUBJECT, that helps demonstrate to the IRS that your shopping business IS a business and NOT a hobby.
If you are NOT a business, but ARE a hobby, then don't get an EIN. It won't do a thing for you except protect you from identity theft. If you ARE a business, you still don't HAVE to have one. But it can be useful if you are audited on whether you are a business or a hobby.
The point is, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is more likely to be a duck than to be a sparrow pretending to be a duck.
If you're really a business -- look and act like one. If you're not going to do what it takes to establish the seriousness of your enterprise, then don't expect to be treated like a business if you get audited.
There's a very small chance of any one of you being audited unless you are writing off large losses against other income from your shopping "business." But believe me, if you get audited, you will wish you had your ducks in a row all along because not looking like a duck may come back to bite you.
And thank you, walesmaven, for being so cordial and welcoming to a new member who tried to be helpful. I'll try to do something nice for you too someday.
Time to build a bigger bridge.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2012 06:03AM by dspeakes.
First of all you should realize that there have been several brouhaha's over EIN numbers. This mostly occurs when a low-paying MSC decides to require all ICs to get one with the misguided notion this will protect them if they are accused of wrongly classifying us as ICs and treating us like employees.
Second, several people have come to this forum with their own tax advice and either a list of their own credentials or for the "experts" they have spoken with. We even had at least one offering legal advice. There is certainly no wisdom in taking either tax or legal advice from some unknown source on a forum.
There are posters on this forum who have had their own mystery shopping businesses for an awfully long time, walesmaven among them. And as someone who knows, I will attest to one fact, walesmaven is among the most cordial and welcoming people you will ever want to meet.
Second, several people have come to this forum with their own tax advice and either a list of their own credentials or for the "experts" they have spoken with. We even had at least one offering legal advice. There is certainly no wisdom in taking either tax or legal advice from some unknown source on a forum.
There are posters on this forum who have had their own mystery shopping businesses for an awfully long time, walesmaven among them. And as someone who knows, I will attest to one fact, walesmaven is among the most cordial and welcoming people you will ever want to meet.
Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.
rsa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would not have either had that not happened. I
> have actually had mine for years for my business.
> Since it ties to my personal name, according to
> the IRS, I can use it for MS. Unless of course I
> Incorporate.
What is different if you incorporate?
Jamie
Editor and shopper
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would not have either had that not happened. I
> have actually had mine for years for my business.
> Since it ties to my personal name, according to
> the IRS, I can use it for MS. Unless of course I
> Incorporate.
What is different if you incorporate?
Jamie
Editor and shopper
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