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

It will be a sad time when / if we become a cashless society when every single penny has to be accounted for. Slipping your kid a tenner to buy a drink on a night out. Giving your teenage kids money in their birthday card. Kids using their spending money to go to the ice cream man, parents / grandparents saying 'here's a fiver for sweets, don't tell your mum'.....

I agree with you.

There's an existing regulation scheme under the money laundering/proceeds of crime laws, for "high value traders" where businesses have to register if they handle cash transactions over a specified amount (circa £10k if I remember rightly) and they have to have procedures in place to check ID for any transactions over that amount (and records kept for future audits etc). The government could easily reduce that threshold to bring more businesses into it's scope.

Why is it different? A few hours a week can add up to thousands quite easily.

There's a tiresome poor little washer woman type trope being peddled on this thread, it does women a disservice.

Because one person might be quite deliberately altering the way they operate in order to avoid paying tax. The other might be doing someone a favour for a few quid.

If you do something in the expectation that you’re going to be paid for doing it that’s earned income and should be taxed. It’s the law. And applies to everyone equally. I don’t give two hoots if it was a favour for a friend. If she’s doing it to get paid it’s not a favour but earnings.

I also think there are a lot of people, who might not admit it here and now, who have done shopping for their neighbour, and the neighbour has said 'keep the change for your time'. Would they then declare that 'tip' on top of their wages. Or here's a fiver for petrol money.

Its not a favour if its work in exchange for money a few hours a week.

How old are you?

Side hustle payment if less than £1000 per year would be covered by the trading allowance and be tax free.

Sorry, I think I missed this post before.

Most self-employed/sole traders and anybody with a very small business won't have their own home as part of the actual business - it will be separate.

They will need to bank some of the cash to settle their business-related costs electronically - if they have separate premises and separate accounts, which not all will e.g. a plumber who only works in customers' homes - but the mortgage/council tax/electricity bill etc. will be personal and thus will be paid from their personal accounts, which don't usually cost anything to have or use.

I don’t blame anyone for trying to dodge tax - the cost of living is so high, and taxes are insanely high. People are talking about the NHS etc but we see tens of thousands of illegals immigrants each year being supported and housed by British taxpayers and I don’t fancy chipping in towards the tens of billions they want to pay to give away the Chagos Islands.

While we’re worrying about low earning cleaners, billionaires and millionaires are deserting the country in droves due to government policy. Taking millions of tax revenue with them. Tax on cleaning jobs isn’t going to make up the shortfall.

I work in goldsmithing, none of our suppliers take cash. I'm sure they will if I asked, but it's assumed you'll pay with card or bank transfer. In fact, the biggest one I go to, I said about how they don't have cash registers, and they said that as it's rare that they take cash it literally just goes into a cash box in the back room safe because it's just not really a thing. It's rare that customers use cash with us now, which I love as it just streamlines it doing everything via the bank.

I have a small accountancy practice. Quite a lot of clients used to pay in cash, but over the past few years it's really dropped and I can't remember the last time anyone did - must be pre-covid. Even "cash based" small businesses don't bring cash to pay their bills anymore, not the small shops, boarding houses, or even tradesmen! They just bank it and pay us by BACS. There are fewer and fewer suppliers who take cash - the likes of shops can't pay their major suppliers/wholesalers in cash as the van drivers don't accept it anymore due to insurance cost and safety risk. Only smaller suppliers take it, i.e. the "one man bands" such as home bakers and smallholdings and local butchers selling cakes and fresh fruit/veg and fresh meat/eggs to shops directly. Try paying cash to the van driver from Booker bringing a van load of groceries worth £5k and you won't get far!! My biggest two convenience stores (both franchised chains) don't pay a single thing in cash - all their suppliers (mostly the franchise), staff, etc are paid by BACs - cash through the till gets banked in full so there's money in the bank to pay the rent, utilities, wages and suppliers. They don't even pay their window cleaners in cash anymore - that's BACs too!