USA Reimbursed expenses on 1099, incomplete receipts are inherent to the work

[Shopper]

Hi,
I work as an independent contractor as a mystery shopper. I am reimbursed for the cost of the goods and services I am requested to mystery shop, and it is included in my payroll as reimbursement, and therefore included on my 1099. The problem is the nature of the job is often to detect whether employees are properly registering transactions, or pocketing cash, and in order to do this I am asked not to request receipts in some cases. In addition, tipping is customary in certain businesses I shop, and are reimbursed to me, but there is no receipt for tipping a person cash. I am hoping to deduct all these reimbursed expenses from my schedule C, as they are most definitely not income, but I am concerned about the lack of a complete accounting of receipts in the event of an audit. Any advice or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[kirby]

Best you can do is keep a detailed log of your expenses for those cases where you cannot get a receipt. Column headings could be date, company you are shopping, address, type of expense, amount of expense, reason for no receipt.

 

[Shopper]

Thanks Kirby. I have a report I fill out and submit for each shop I perform, and the cost and tip amount are part of the report, as well as whether a receipt was issued or not.
The thing is in the event of an audit, I have no confidence that the irs will look beyond no receipts. Guess I will just cross my fingers. Thanks again.