Who do you pay in cash?

gillybob afree it is unfair when anyone plays the system! BUT the country is being bankrupt not because of a few hundred quid cash in hand but because of the zillions that big businesses stash away..that is why Gauke's comments are so insulting..does he think the general public are so naive that they will start blaming plumbers etc for the economic crisis???

My husband and I run a struggling engineering company. All of our work is business to business so all payments made are strictly through the bank (cheque, card or BACS) . We don't do any work directly to the general public so cash in hand is never an option.

However (call it sour grapes) it does annoy me a bit when builder/hairdresser/cleaner friends brag to me that they "only put enough through the books to keep tax man happy and stash the rest".

I kinda get the point that was being made.

My Gardner was in insurance before he got the hankering for the outdoors!

Does Mr Gauke think that it was morally right to give the richest people in the country a tax break?

Our cleaner, like many, is from Eastern Europe. To have an NI number, she is required to set up a business account which charges for every cheque processed, so of course she prefers to be paid in cash. I know she declares her income for tax because she is applying for citizenship and has to prove that she is self-supporting and paying tax.

I agree that it is the responsibility of the employee to decare their income for tax purposes (though wrong for an employer to knowingly collude in any evasion), but I also think that the whole austerity programme is about penalising the poor while the rich get away with avoidance on a massive scale.

So there, jeni! Hope you've checked your self-employed people's insurance policies!

Thanks nanaej, that is exactly what I meant.
And a lot of us do not realize this.
And some of us are even ignorant enough to think such an accident would come under normal household insurance. It does not.

Quite! And being Bristol! It's always 'cash on the nail '
The 'nails' are within 100 yards of the court where I work!

Johanna is talking about the responsibility that might fall on the the person paying a cleaner cash in hand if the 'self-employed'cleaner slipped and broke a leg etc.I work as a self employed consultant and have to pay for public liability insurance in case I damage someone/thing in the course of my work. Hopefully the schools i work for have insurance to protect me.

ana
I got the impression that Jeni was talking about people who work for her on a regular basis.
Not big one off jobs.

Now you're going off on a different tangent completely - what's that got to do with paying cash in hand? Most people check their builder's credentials before they employ them.

johnanna, in no situation is it incumbent upon the person paying for the service to verify the service-provider's tax arrangements! Cash is still legal currency!

jeni
That is absolutely fine, if they are totally self employed.
In which case they would have their proper liability insurance?
And there would be no come back to you if they fell of a ladder whilst cleaning your gutters?

My SiL runs a small building company. He is sometimes paid in cash sometimes cheque. He has an accountant ..his books have to balance. But he often has cheques bounce because people transfer money from one account to another and sometimes it is too slow! Currently owed £15k from well known person who is having trouble releasing funds! Meanwhile he has to pay his team, the suppliers, his mortgage etc. He prefers cash because it is quicker for 'cash flow' and not because he does not pay tax.

What about the bar in the house of commons-do they pay the full price or is the drink tax free-same difference surely. An MP gave my DH aHouse of commons bottle of scotch-we thought it must be very special and expensive-treasured it as we drank. Later found that MPs can buy the stuff for a pound or so

I employ self employed people to to things for me!
It is their responsibility!

Not quite, jeni and ana.
If you employ someone for , let's say 3 hours a week, that is fine.
If you employ someone on a daily basis, even for only 3 hours, I think it becomes a different ballgame.
Well, that is the impression I was given.

Yes I agree - the onus is on the service provider to pay any tax due. Nothing to do with us as buyers. Of course shops etc. accept cash, because their business practices are transparent in that respect.

It is up to the person you are paying to declare it for tax! If they are are quoting a cheaper price! It is up to them!

Ofcourse it is fine to pay cash.
As long as we remember that the cash we pay is from earned income.
So, for every pound you pay in cash you would have had to earn £1.20? ! £1.30? £1.50?, depending on which tax bracket you are in.

Sometimes the people who would prefer to be paid in cash act as if they are doing you a big favour.
That is not the case for most of us.

We pay by card and by cash. My husband takes out a sum from the ATM every week, we use that except when doing a big shop at the supermarket. Visits to the supermarket apart from that and to the greengrocer, newsagent, petrol station etc are in cash. We keep a tab on our spending that way and know what we have available to spend.

So, now supermarkets can't take cash? If I go to a boot sale - no cash? Buying my newspaper - no cash? What happens when a café, newsagent, pub have a notice no cheques or cards under £X ? Do we say 'sorry but the government says I can't pay you in cash because that means you are dodgy!'

It is ludicrous, the country prints the coins of the realm and now some idiot is trying to stop people using it!

That too lol.

Don't tradespeople give you a better price if you pay cash because they can then avoid putting it through the books, and paying tax on it.

I thought that was the idea behind it.

Good point bikergran. Cash doesn't mean they're not paying tax and VAT. It also means that they know they're not going to have trouble with any dodgy cheques.

My SIL is a window cleaner. All his takings are in cash. He keeps accurate accounts and pays his taxes.

Now we know for sure who's running the asylum!