Tax evasion

[fluffymuggle]

I’m a freelance photographer and have done some work for a music events company that seemed a bit off. I’ve tried to find them and others on Companies House but nothing! They are quite active and do a lot of events/collaborations with festivals. They have also sold a lot of merchandise and continue to do so. I’ve tried to find a couple of successful local clothing brands too but I’m at a loss. If they’re not on CH then are they not registered as a business at all? I think there’s a lot of tax evasion going on in the arts/music/independent clothing sector that we’re blissfully unaware of

It might just mean they are not a limited company. They could be a sole trader or a partnership which doesn’t require Companies House Registration.

Could it be that the companies' trading names are different from their company names? I don't think that's unusual.

Or they could be registered on Companies House under a different name and have a trading as name. Not necessarily tax evasion.

Yes, you can trade under a different name to the company name that is registered. EG parent company name might’ve registered and have a few different trading names.

I’ve worked for someone who owns a small warehouse venue that also runs music events and their company is on CH with the word ‘Promotions’ after their brand name so I presume any music promotional company would need to be registered with CH. They aren’t as successful as the business in question. The one I worked for are earning probably something in the excess of £100k a year as they do a considerable amount of events at a relatively high price and sell a lot of merchandise at a high price too. Think £50 for a hoodie stuff like that. It’s really confusing and I’m not sure if I should report or not. All the artists were paid in cash with no receipts and the venue was paid in cash too according to one of the musicians. I would have thought that anyone who sells clothing/accessories on their own website (not a Shopify, Etsy etc.) would need to be registered as an actual business. They’ve been active for at least 6 years too

They have multiple events alias (sister events as such) but their main brand name is the one that is merchandised. I’ve searched every single alias possible on Google and nothing comes up at all. Even if they do have accounts then surely they won’t be accurate if they’re paying/receiving cash with no invoices? It can’t be proved if there’s no receipts

There is no legal requirement to be registered at Companies House unless they are Limited.

Do any of these businesses have websites? Often there's a section, usually buried at the bottom, that explains the trading name, owners, registered address etc 'about us', 'corporate' or similar. Some smaller companies aren't necessarily registered with companies house, but larger ones should be.

DP works as a freelancer in various roles in the live events industry and yes, there is a lot wrong with the organisational side and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a level of tax evasion. I know that there certainly will be for some of the workers, but most of them probably don't earn enough to pay tax anyway.

Most frustrating aspects for him/us is that a lot of the work is done by volunteers who will literally work at an event in exchange for free entry, which makes it harder for people who want/need to be earning money for working, plus the volunteers aren't always as keen to actually work once they've got in and want to see the bands.

Plus the last minute aspect of booking people like DP to work. There are major festivals taking place in the summer of 2020 that have already sold out and he is likely to be working at, but he won't get a confirmed booking until weeks, or even days before the event, and this is for major essential projects that the festival cannot run without.