AIBU to be so sick of tradespeople/ cleaners asking for cash in hand?

If the banking system goes down what makes you think paper money would be any use? That ship has long since sailed.

Nor me. I pay my tax, but what they do is down to their conscience. 🤷‍♀️

Which account is this? My hsbc account charges for every transaction other than a bank transfer

i actually don’t mind paying in cash as long as it’s cheaper for me. And I don’t mean they give me two quotes they are cheaper in comparison to other quotes I have received from another business but work is on par. This way it’s benefitting us both. Rightly or wrongly

I said £200 off the full price.

So I was given the option to pay
Bank transfer - labour plus VAT £350
Cash - labour +£200

I stopped using a plumber because he would only accept cash.

a contractor for a job worth nearly £10k offered to discount the VAT if we paid cash…..i was shocked but suppose it happens all the time

We were amazed how customers almost always asked "what would the cash price be?" To supply and fit a kitchen? Same. No problem it's all declared, but if you want to walk through town with a bag full of notes.....

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Frothing about an individuals tax affairs whilst buying coffee from Starbucks and stuff from Amazon.

I pay mine by bank transfer
Not every nail place is the same
There is life outside your town

Agree with you there.

This.
I worked on a business where we were often paid in large amounts of cash. Every penny was declared and we paid all our taxes.
PP have made a valid point about VAT thresholds. It’s an extra cost to both parties. Not least the time involved in businesses administering it.
The other point about cash is that it doesn’t rely on electronics. I’m sure most of us have seen the chaos when the WiFi doesn’t work or the lines go down.

At least shops used to keep the manual card swipe and forms but all
thats gone now.

Its worth remembering that money is based on trust and that the current system has warped that beyond recognition and we now have a global fiat currency with global wealth effectively tied to the US Dollar. If the dollar collapses every single one of us is in the shit and money will lose value overnight.

No matter how much you’ve got, if you don’t invest it in things people assign value to and directly own those means, you will be as poor as everyone else if the dollar collapses.
This isn’t a political point but I don’t think people realise how much shit Gordon Brown got us out of when US sub prime mortgage thing went tits up.

If your cleaner or anyone wants cash just ask for an invoice. Then you have their name and address as well.

Of course electronic money is convenient but the poorer people are the bigger the informal economy.

If someone wants their £50 in cash I’m not going to judge them but just be thankful I can afford to pay someone to clean my house or provide the service I need and in turn put cash in to the economy and indirect taxation as they will likely pay VAT on things, it’s almost impossible to avoid now.

Cleaners that pay their taxes will and should charge more so that’s at least £20 ph. Assuming they work an 8 hour day mon to Fri and take 4 weeks holiday a year and never need time off for sickness etc that leaves them with just over £2.5 k per month.

With the costs of housing That’s quite a precarious situation if they are the only earner.
They’d be better off working for an employer. That would mean a much higher hourly rate to the customer to cover business costs, before any profits are made.

My gut feeling is that an anti cash stance is quite a privileged view to hold.

Paying cash isn't a problem as long as it's declared as income. My cleaner prefers cash, but I know she declares it because I've helped her with tax returns and UC claims paperwork.

You can report to HMRC if you think the person/business isn't paying tax they should. HMRC investigates a lot of small businesses.

Indeed. We should use cash whilst we can. I avoid self service checkouts, & 'card only' ones if I can too.

I’m in two minds on this one. I wouldn’t pay a cleaner £21 an hour for a start! I also wouldn’t pay someone over the odds habitually (weekly) and then enable them to dodge tax!

Where I do see this more favourably is where it’s more of a one off job and there’s a mutual benefit… so a decorator quotes £1k plus VAT to do some work and I say “how about £850 cash?”. Then there’s a benefit for both of us!

Do you really want to live in a society without cash? What becomes of the millions of people who do not have (and cannot open) bank accounts? Or those who do, but are debanked (not as rare as you’d think). How would the homeless manage? Do you want a society where you are forced to entrust all of your money to third parties (are banks always safe? - imagine not having a bit of cash for emergencies). What if you were in a financially controlling relationship and cash was the only way to protect your money? What happens when the banking system goes down - it happens and people don’t fully realise how vulnerable that system is. This is before we even get on to the question of freedoms and the state’s right to track absolutely everything you do. Honestly, there are so many reasons that cash is important and it’s crazy that some people would so willingly give it up.

Well you’re technically paying the tax in that situation. You chose.

Well exactly - he is making customers pay his tax bill! Cheeky get

Genuine question: do all self employed people have a separate business account?

What bank charges?

Yes I’m not sure cleaners are living it up on a tax free lifestyle.

The only ones I indulge in this are the local Chinese where it's 30% cheaper to order directly (not just eat) and pay cash. And my orders are like £100 quid normally so a nice discount

Fully agree.

Some years back, my then-hairdresser tutted and sighed really loudly when I dared to pay by card. I had cash but he'd added a service while I was there, which then left me short.

Last year the lady I (used to) get facial treatments from started asking for cash only, and given how much her treatments/botox costs, this was incredibly impractical. I stopped going.

Guy next door is a tradesman (boilers, etc) and told my partner that he fiddles his tax, yet he has 3 kids who all go to school, and do they not use the roads, public services, and infrastructure?

Quite. It’s not Michelle doing your nails, or Dave helping you move a sofa, who are the problem. But let’s focus on them, instead of companies like Amazon channeling billions of UK revenue through Luxembourg.

I pay mine by bank transfer. She charges £15/hour regardless of route of payment. It is up to her to manage her tax liabilities, not me.

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To the broader question.

I pay cash if people ask for cash, it is up to them how they manage their taxes. Not me to be their moral arbiter.

I keep my income below the £100k cliff edge by paying more into my pension. It is the same principle of keeping more for myself. Every time someone posts about losing their tax free childcare, they get advised to do this. What is so morally different about that?