There are two different types of payments as we know a fee which is a flat payment for doing the job and a reimbursement which is just that a reimbursement of what a shopper had to pay normally it would be the cost of the food which is reimbursed. The fee is taxed and the reimbursement is not. I would say over 95% of mystery shopping I have done report the food reimbursement as a reimbursement and thus it is not reportable to the IRS as a taxable item. Some restaurants however for reason unknown to me make it hard on the shopper and insist on calling the reimbursement a fee thus making that a reportable cost to the IRS. Don't know why they have such an attitude towards shoppers that they feel they must assign this cost in the most arduous way rather than the more friendly way of reporting taxes and calling the reimbursement for food what it is a reimbursement. Yes yes I have been school that I can save my paperwork and prove to the IRS that it was in fact a non-taxable reimbursement but why go through that extra step if the restaurant has the capacity to simply categorize it correctly from the beginning? It's a very unfriendly attitude toward the shopper. Please don't call a food reimbursement a fee but in fact it is a reimbursement that the IRS has no interest in and it leaves me to later explain to the IRS what the charge is when the company could have made it easy and just call it a reimbursement and be done with it. PLEASE PROPERLY CLASSIFY FOOD REIMBURSEMENTS AS A REIMBURSEMENT AND NOT A FEE. I'm done with doing any more shops where the restaurant called the food reimbursement a fee. They are just driving up my paperwork load and not making it easier on shoppers!!! I just did two shops recently where the only compensation was the food and they found it necessary to classify it as a fee. No more I'm done with that.

Fees are taxable. However compensation for a meal is usually not since it is considered a work product and required as a necessity in order to complete the shop.

The the shop that I enjoy doing that doesn't come up that often is a fee base $25 for a national chain restaurant and they always pay in fee form. Freeform is taxable.

Would rather be paid with a meal compensation rather than a fee because that will not get taxed. Or even a mixed would be better such as $15 toward the meal and $10 fee

Please consider paying us more in reimbursements than fees ..... reimbursements are more tax friendly, but fees are NOT. Almost every payment here is a flat fee (taxable) but would prefer a reimbursement. Most MS companies give a combination of both -- ie $20 reimbursement with a $10 fee.

Lots of shoppers "quit" before the $600 fee point- so you are actually loosing shoppers this way. I could do more work for you if you would change this.