Would you / do you pay your nanny in cash?

Providing it goes through the books I see no reason why she shouldn't have her net paid in cash. I am usually paid weekly into my bank account but some employers have paid cash in the past but tax and insurance have always been paid.

I'm not giving advice here just experience.
When I had trouble with one family who among other contractual things hadn;t been paying all my tax, I went to solicitor. I had been babysitting regularly for them and solicitor looked up if they should have also been paying tax on that. He found a precedent that if you are working for a family permanantly but did very occaisional babysitting for them then non-declaration/payment of tax on the earnings was acceptable.

Additionally, my mums friend (also employed) tried to register with HMRC for occaisional cleaning-about £500/year and was told by them not to bother. Maybe it costs more to administrate such low amounts.

Like I say it's not formal advice but in practice very small amounts have been 'officially' allowed to slide.

If you are babysitting though (for someone other than your employer) you should be paying tax on it on a self-employed basis. It's possible to be both employed and self-employed, just like it's possible to have two employed jobs.

Yes you should be self employed if you are a cleaner but I do not know one that is.

I think you would only declare your babysitting if you were self employed. Most nannies are not self employed.

Cleaners are self-employed. You should be self-employed for babysitting as well really.

I know nannies who get paid cash. Most people that pay a cleaner pay in cash and nobody seems to bat an eyelid.

As for babysitting everyone I know me included do it for cash.

We paid our nanny in cash for extra babysitting or out of hours emergencies (if we were suddenly late home from work by an hour unforeseen. Otherwise, keep it all above board.

Note that that is not OK either, overtime must go through PAYE. Babysitting is a bit of a grey area; if the nanny babysits for other people and puts the earnings through on a tax return then it is probably OK, otherwise probably not.

Unfortunately it can be quite common, but from both sides. I'm a nanny and i have had a few interviews where parents want to fiddle or avoid tax, thats why we are trying to get it where nanny pay is discussed as a gross wage like most jobs instead of net pay where people (on both sides) see this as room to fiddle-or not realise how much extra tax and NI can add up to.
good on you for wanting to do this above board though, it just isn't worth it. if she doesn't want to pay tax, maybe she's not even a legal?

Quite obviously, if your nanny wants to be paid in cash for two full days of work every week, then she is avoiding paying tax. Am amazed a person can be educated to phd level and not realise this.

Wolfie - sounds like you need to educate yourself with regard to the legalities of employing a nanny.

I did not have set days some days I would work three or five days a week.

No way. We paid our nanny in cash for extra babysitting or out of hours emergencies (if we were suddenly late home from work by an hour unforeseen. Otherwise, keep it all above board.

Unlikely to be able to be self-employed in a regular part time job. I am a self-employed nanny but I do emergency childcare/ad hoc days, set my own hours and availability etc.

I had two jobs and was self employed.

A nanny doesn't meet the criteria to be self employed, it isn't a choice, it is based on a set of criteria and a nanny would definitely come out as an employee not self employed.

Could your nanny not be self employed if so she would be liable and not you.

if she wants paying in cash to avoid PAYE then she is basically dishonest and not the sort of person you want looking after your child - stay well away and look for an honest person

I would want a paper trail but that could be you withdrawing the £100 at the same time every week from the cash point and getting her to sign for the payment.
I used to get paid in cash every week from Marks and Spencers but we had to sign for it.

Yes, you'd be the one who'd be liable, committing fraud etc. In some jobs (eg public sector) getting done for tax evasion could be a sackable offence. Not good plan.

You could try explaining to her that if you are caught, it is you, the employer who will be prosecuted and fined for tax evasion(i think c£3k fine plus all the unpaid tax!) so the problems of this kind of arrangement all lie with you. Apart from being illegal, it could have serious repercussions for you depending on your line of work e.g. if you are an accountant.

What happens if she starts a claim against you that you in fact DID NOT PAY HER? If paying in cash I would only do this subject to him/her signing paperwork confirming receipt of payment.

I've paid nannies in cash but always done PAYE, one of them was paying it straight into a saving account which I couldn't BACS into. I even did it for someone who was only working for me one day a week and was under threshold as my payroll company advised me it was safest as I only had her word she wasn't working elsewhere not the P46.

Windy

If she has another job, you must operate PAYE. You can only not operate PAYE if you pay less than £102 a week AND you have a statement from her in the form of A or B on the P46 form.