Paying tradespeople

I think that many are living hand to mouth. If they are stretching their overdraft with the bank, then cash means they have some in their pocket. There may be a few who are hoping to evade tax, but my own sense is that is not the main issue.
I have often been given a proper invoice, but had cash requested.

We built our own house, and I told all of the trades that they would be paid on the nail, but through the books. I'm nowhere near Wales though!

I pay most at the tradesman entrance to my home in cash. I do not think it is to evade tax but to make sure the pay is sure and complete.

I don't think they are trying to evade tax in a big way either.

Cheques are old fashioned these days and mean tradesmen have to pay a special visit to the bank or send them off to be banked. Cheques are hassle to them.

Wow Nora you must have a lovely big house

An ex-builder told me that tradespeople often go out of business because of unpaid invoices or delays in payment.

A cheque could turn out not to be honoured resulting in a lot of hassle, or worse, for them.

Hi BBbevan, it is you employing them, isn't it ?

I pay the window cleaner,the occasional gardener,the cleaner and the plumber we use all in cash and never worry about it.

There appears to be little choice in London- it is cash only for everybody.

It varies.We paid our builders with a cheque, paid the plumber with a cheque, but other tradesmen asked for cash to be paid by bank transfer.
The only people we pay actual cash to are for anounts under £50.

I live in London and pay everyone, including the occasional gardener & central heating engineer, directly into their bank account, online.

Via my online account I have a receipt that it's gone into their account - whether they declare it to the tax man is another matter, but I've done my bit.

There are lots of reasons why people want to be paid in cash. It is only the government that is convinced that the only reason is to avoid tax.

I find we are paying more and more tradesmen by bank transfer.

The advantage of paying in cash is that you know it's gone to them and not been swallowed up by someone operating a scam. There have been a few of those involving builders emails being hacked.

To be honest I think they probably are trying to avoid paying tax . I would make sure you always get a proper receipt for your money though .

Nothing to do with Wales in particular though . This is happening countrywide .

Cash is perfectly legal tender and you shouldn't feel guilty about using it. What the tradesperson does with it is their, and the taxman's , business. We all know money laundering goes on in some of these cash only businesses- why do some nail bars only take cash? Why don't the authorities do something about it? ( answer: they don't want to employ enough people to investigate it)

I have no problem with paying cash, but do expect a signed and dated receipt. The thing that I cannot understand is why a travel company that we use for some holidays, will only accept a cheque or DD card payment. I have asked if we could pay by bank transfer, which is so simple, easy and accepted by lots of other companies, but have been told that they do not do things that way. Strange.

When asked how I want to be payed, I always say I prefer cash if possible. This has nothing whatsoever about trying to avoid tax. In my case, it is for convenience. Getting to a bank to pay in cheques (which i still have to do occasionally) is a pain in the a**e, and nor do i want to have to pay a percentage of my very small self-employed income to the bank, in the form of bank charges, either!

I normally pay online for biggish jobs, anything small would be cash I haven't used a cheque for a long time and prefer online transactions

As an addition to my post. We live in an area near the sea and with castles. Therefore quite a lot of tourists. We have found that many cafes are cash only too. This is disconcerting when the only indication is a small notice near the till. Which you do not see on the way in. We had to be left as hostages once while my DD rushed to the bank ?

Think cheques are a nuisance to everyone... I can never find my cheque book, since I hardly ever use it. The window cleaner and grasscutter take cash if I'm at home and have it, otherwise I pay it direct into their bank accounts, so obviously a question of convenience rather than tax avoidance.

We run & B&B but we are not big enough to be classed as a business or be VAT registered. In a previous life we ran a shop & PO and were both! We accept cash, cards & cheques in that order of preference.

We are often offered cash with a nod & a wink to 'not go through the books' with payment, but it makes no difference to us and we always give a printed receipt to all visitors. OH is very precise with the book-keeping and tax etc. Always has been and always will.

We live in a rural area and luckily still have a PO in the village and can bank our cheques but if we didn't it'd be a minimum 35 mile round trip to get to a bank, but still cheques are not our favourite, So we live on whatever cash we have and it is very handy, or pay by card for shopping.

What I'm getting at is it is up to the service providers to deal with their own tax etc, & not for us to judge or to decide how they should ask for payment. I assume you are a bit rural too so perhaps they too need the cash for day to day living, children's lunches? Who knows.

My advice, pay how they ask, request a receipt and get on with enjoying your new home. Also word spreads in areas and if you make life difficult for tradespeople you might find it a little difficult in the future to get the service you need.

My local pub landlord told me recently that his bank charge him 75 pence for every cheque he pays in so obviously he prefers cash transactions over all other forms of payment. I am aware that the credit card companies also charge him for card payments.

Banks charge for cheques so I imagine some people wish to avoid that cost. I more often than not pay cash, it is legal tender why not? Other people' tax affairs are not my concern, I am more concerned that cash is being phased out and we won't be able to buy so much as a Kit Kat soon, without some algorithm informing the health police.

Sometimes small firms need the cash flow literally to pay accounts or deliveries to site or even their workers. This seems especially pressing no that there are so few banks around.

Cheques bounce. Small traders cannot afford to sue people who may never pay up. Cash is safe, immediate and doesn't get swallowed up by an overdraft. HMRC will know that they are self employed and if they don't declare any cash earnings will ask questions and probably assess them on the basis that they do. If they do get away with a bit of tax it will be minimal and is not really a major problem where tax dodging is concerned.
I don't have a bank account and either pay for things in cash or with a pre-paid debit card. I haven't found it to be a problem. I think we need to fight against a cash less society that bankers and governments want.