AIBU to refuse to pay cash in hand?

Well if you’d rather pay 750 that’s fine, tradesmen are not stupid, they’re aware that customers will require invoices for VAT return, or will check with revenue to report the builder, they’re not going to risk their business doing cash in hand jobs unless you are a friend of a friend, then it’s mates rates. 😆

They are potentially not paying taxes or lying to get out of child maintenance so I agree with not facilitating this. It's false equivalence to say oh well millionaires don't pay tax so why not help 'the little man'. They should also pay their taxes!!

Most tradesmen I know now charge on average £600-750 a day rate

I'd say we're not paying enough overall for the services we want. But some people should be paying more, some people are paying too much and some people are cheating the system.

I don’t care why they’re doing it. I will usually pay bank transfer because it’s easier than me having to go to a cash point.

Almost everything is paid for online or with a tap / pin these days so non-cash payments genuinely make more sense. I really think many people who insist on cash are doing it to leave no trace of the income so they don’t have to pay tax on it. Yes, there’s a fee for handling card payments but there’s not one for bank transfers - so why not accept cash or bank transfer?

Yes. They would either reduce tax rates or increase spending on services that people want. They are just trying to balance the books (or at least not borrow excessively). They are not a business trying to make a profit!

Last year a roofing firm
offerd to disxount the VAT if I paid them
in cash

£8 fucking grand .

That would have been a huge saving for me but how do i get £6k + in cash?

unscrupulous bastards

You know what, the mega rich and global companies do whatever they can to tax dodge "legally" and through loopholes that their expensive lawyers provide them with.

My self employed immigrant cleaner supporting a young son with no dad in the picture, not earning the best wage- yeah, I'm paying her in cash and I'm glad to do so.

If you mean that checks are rarely used - yes, in America, as well.

If you mean that checks are not longer an option provided by banks - then I'm surprised.

Cash is great, although naturally corporations and governments don't want you to use it, because they can't track it. But it's fast, convenient, and keeps you from over-spending.

Tradesmen also charge “crazy rates” if that’s what you want to call them, because they are highly skilled at their trade, with years of experience and expensive tools, insurance costs, etc. oh and not to mention , the good ones work their absolute asses off!!

Do you actually believe that the government would reduce the tax rates if nobody fiddled it? Highly unlikely lol

It's literally her business, she's the one paying them.

I don't pay in cash.

If you want to earn money, it should go through the system and you need to pay tax.

It's a load of rubbish that it's to avoid transaction fees, handling cash is just as expensive if not much more expensive.

We have a business bank account and we have to pay £1.50 per £100 for paying cash in so in our experience credit card transactions are much cheaper than this. As a business we refuse to take cash as it's a pain in the arse. Honestly, I know people are saying it doesn't mean they're dodging a bit of tax but I genuinely can't see any other logical reason. There's no charge for people paying us by bank transfer so why would a business owner choose cash over a bank transfer (I'm thinking of large amounts and trades people not shops of course). I don't use tradespeople who want cash, I certainly don't judge them for doing a few jobs off the books, however personally I haven't time to be going and drawing cash out and I'm using a tradesperson for convenience. Dealing with cash just isn't convenient for me.

This is why a majority of businesses hovering around the registration threshold when asked by researchers wanted the threshold to be cut dramatically. The VAT admin wasn’t an issue compared to other businesses being able to charge 1/6th less than them. The sentiment was that if the threshold dropped far enough and ALL businesses are on a level playing field.

It’s EVADING! EVADING! Avoiding is staying within the letter of the law. They are blatantly EVADING tax which is about as legal and moral as mugging people in the street!

Same argument could be used for the small businesses that go over the VAT threshold. They now have to charge the customer 20% more than the other tradesman that are just paying tax.
That is why many want cash jobs to keep them under the threshold. Going over It puts them out of business, especially if it's only just over it. So how is that fair?
I certainly wouldn't blame a tradesman for asking for cash to keep him under the threshold.

The black economy costs tens of billions per year. It's a HUGE problem and getting worse. It's far from "Petty"!

Tax evasion costs the country tens of billions per year. If traders paid the right taxes, everyone else wouldn't have to pay as much tax and/or we'd have more money for public services. Grossly unfair that tradesmen can "choose" to evade tax when the majority of PAYE workers have no such choice.

YANBU. I won't use traders who offer discounts for cash. If they're happy to break the law with tax avoidance, then no doubt they don't care about other laws either. PRobably also paying their workers in cash and not declaring/taxing their wages either, so two levels of tax/benefit/CM evasion. And, yes, if they're offering big discounts for payments in cash, they're almost certainly on the fiddle. These days, it's harder and more costly for them to bank cash whereas it's usually cheaper or free for them to take payment by bank transfer.

Yes I get an invoice from my window cleaner and gardener

I think it's none of your business! Can't imagine caring enough.

My gardener invoices me and I pay by bank transfer.