To change my mind when he asked for payment in cash?

Exactly!!! So he takes a £50 deposit by bank transfer and won’t allow the final payment by bank transfer. It is def a tax dodge. I would def respond to his comment on FB

A good friend, who I thought was a very intelligent person, paid £12k cash for some kitchen refurb work

They did it for a cheaper price, to a tradesman that was obvioulsy a tax dodger.

Two things happened

1. The bank basically interviewed them and they had to lie through their teeth as to why they need £12k in cash. Think about it, nobody needs £12k in cash for legitimate reasons. It's either to pay a scammer or a tax dodger.
2. They got burgled about two months later. Probably unconnected but if a tradesman is prepared to break the law by defrauding HMRC, chances are they no some ' characters' down the pub and word might have got around.

Tax Inspector here. It doesn’t mean with absolute certainty that this individual won’t be paying tax but it is a strong indicator for me because it often indicates income suppression.

Where do you think the money to pay for hospitals, schools etc comes from? La-la land? It's from TAXES.
Are you also not bothered about having hospitals? Or schools?

Pay cash - get 20% off.

I only have cash so I pay all tradesmen in cash, I’m not bothered if they pay tax or not. Tbh people work hard for very little after the the government have got their grubby hands on them. If me paying cash to a tradesman means he can take his family on holiday or buy his kids uniform then I’m happy to have helped.

I’d be happy to listen to your argument, but as you’ve stated you’re not willing to give your argument, you just want to go with the personal insults instead, I shall go ahead and ignore you. Have a good rest of your day 🙂

You are very naive if you think most people asking for cash declare all of their earnings to HMRC or to the DWP as a lot will be claiming UC too. Yes cash is legal tender but dodging tax and benefit fraud is not and affects us all.

It's hard to know where to start with this and I really can't be bothered other than to say you are wrong. Very wrong. Take that chip of your shoulder and open your eyes because if you say that out loud in real life, you're going to look pretty stupid.

How often do we see posts from a single mum who is getting chuff all from the dad because he is getting paid cash and isn't declaring it. I bet stuffing the ex is an even bigger incentive than the tax man for some.

Ha! £5000 cash , I'd like to see how you get that out of the bank without a load of hassle
and questioning do you keep it under the mattress?

If the guy was legitimate, he would of offered a bank transfer, not demanded cash in 2025. Cash only if it suits both parties.

Most of the time these days, tradespeople won't accept cash any more.

THE SMALL TRADES DODGING TAX ARE THE PROBLEM.

60% of unpaid tax comes from small businesses. 5% of unpaid tax comes from the mega rich.

If we stopped the mega rich “dodging” tax we would recover an extra £2.3bn in tax admittedly, but that’s a drop in the ocean compared to the extra £28bn we would recover if small businesses paid the right tax.

Be angry at the right people and accept that you are part of the biggest part of the issue if you are facilitating cash payments to traders.

(PS my job is to help the mega rich with their tax affairs, I know as a fact most of them are paying their way in line with tax laws).

Why do you think casual labourers are paid in cash?
I very much doubt they're filling in their tax returns with all the details of what they've been paid!

How silly! We had a big job done by one guy, it took 16 full days. It was £5k and we paid him cash. The quote from a large, well known firm, for the same job was £10k. He did a FANTASTIC job. He is a perfectionist.

Most of my customers pay me in cash. I pay my taxes. It's so much easier, because they pay me on the day, job done. People paying by bank transfer often "forget" to pay, and it's a right faff monitoring my bank account and chasing people for payment. Interestingly, it's always the posh people with plenty of money that drag their feet when it comes to paying me.

Cash is king.

Personally I have no issue paying cash and don’t care small time trades are dodging tax. The mega rich dodging tax are the big problem and the government does fuck all about that while trampling all over the people at the bottom just trying to improve their lives a bit. It’s one rule for the rich (or no rule to be more realistic), and one much harsher rule for the rest of us. I’ll worry about people paying tax when the government enforces it for everyone's not just those at the bottom of the ladder.

With tap payments it’s really no riskier than carrying a card.

Cash is legal tender and doesn’t involve transfer fees. Paying labourers on the day in cash is perfectly normal. You can go to a hole-in-the-wall, get out a few hundred quid at a time. It’s two or three visits. Really not that inconvenient. Otherwise offer pay him half the total amount in advance so he can get the cash out beforehand.

I would be concerned that he is available to do the job so soon, I think you have had a lucky escape

It’s not unusual to ask to be paid in cash if the guy is paying casual labourers, who have always traditionally been paid daily or weekly in cash.

If he provides an invoice - which the OP should insist on - that would indicate the money is going through the system.

Of course she shouldn’t pay in cash if she doesn’t want to and she can report him to HMRC to check it out, but she shouldn’t make accusations to the admins of her local Facebook group - she can just answer him pointing out she isn’t a timewaster she just didn’t want to pay cash.

This sounds just like a company I used a few years ago. Dodgy!

This.

If you can reply to the FB post, I just respond politely saying "I think your comment is rather unfair. You refused to accept a bank transfer for payment and wanted cash in hand only. You should have made your payment terms clear before quoting".

To be honest, demanding cash in hand then writing rude FB posts about a customer speaks volumes and I'd call it a lucky escape. I never employ ANYONE who slags off a customer online!

Well it’s not unusual to ask to be paid in cash - it can of course be a tax dodge, but if he’s paying labourers they are traditionally paid in cash. As long as he provides you with an invoice before payment and you take a walk round the garden with him to check everything is done right, there’s nothing odd or not above board about it.

None of which is to say you have to do it. We aren’t used to handling cash the way we were.

It would be perfectly reasonable to leave a temperate response to his Facebook message, saying - ‘ as I explained I was happy to hire you, but not to make such a large payment in cash. That does not make me a time waster.’

YANBU. It's purely to dodge tax, and I would never pay that much in cash.

No it isn't. There is no reason to ask for cash unless for tax dodging purposes. OP, you did nothing wrong and I would report him to the FB group admins (and also possibly tip off HMRC)