Would you pay cash in hand to save a large amount of money?

[TattiePants]

We’re currently getting quotes for a new roof and the first two quotes came back yesterday. The first roofer has quoted between £19-£25k (depending on materials) for the main roof but that is on the insistence that we pay for it all in cash. He didn’t give me an on the books rate as he wouldn’t take the job if I wasn’t paying cash. Despite being cash in hand he’s still significantly higher than the second quote. We won’t be using him but even if he was cheaper, I still couldn’t bring myself to use him. Just wondering if other people would be prepared to save money (approx. £6k) by letting a tradesperson fiddle their tax.

Notwithstanding the morality around being complicit in what is likely to be tax fraud, no way would I pay cash for a job of such importance. I would definitely want an invoice and some sort of comeback if there were problems with the job - I'm assuming he's not going to give an invoice for cash unless he's got a dodgy accountant!!

For the chap around the corner from us went up on a ladder and put a cap on our chimney and saved us having to hire scaffolding and replaced some of our fence posts for us - cash not a problem!

I’m well aware aware cash is legal tender but asking a customer to basically handover a carrier bag of ‘paper money’ to the value of £25-35k raises enough questions for me to be suspicious. Refusing to do the job unless I pay in cash is also suspicious. Knowing he does this repeatedly and asking us not to tell anyone also is suspicious. Putting that all together raises enough red flags for me.

@AFuturisticalSound I’m sure something is going through his books as of course he’ll want to reclaim his input vat. He may be giving me an invoice for £35k but that doesn’t mean the invoice he puts through his business is for the same amount.

@Fridafever

You should also be aware that should you have issues with the roof and need to take him to court it would be thrown out on the basis that it was an "illegal" contract

This is bollocks.

It really isn't bollocks.

It is mot illegal as in a criminal offence. However an illegal contract within contract law makes it unenforceable or void. Thus where the purpose of part of the contract is to defraud tax a court would likely find that there are no other remedies available to the parties tk the contract.

www.upcounsel.com/illegality-in-contract-law

*not rather than mot!

I see the temptation but it’d make me a hypocrite. I hate tax dodgers and avoid companies that do it.

No I wouldn’t - it’s not cheaper in the long run because the rest of us have to pay the tax he’s avoiding.

Why is everyone busting themselves to pay taxes

Because we value having things like emergency services and schools?

@TattiePants If it saves YOU paying VAT then yes. If they don't save you the VAT then probably not...

@TattiePants Oh and you also don't pay a penny until the work is complete.

We had a roofer come around to fix a minor repair, he was new to the area and had been sent by another company as at the last minute they couldn’t do it. We had some bigger work that needed doing (think 5k+) and we mentioned it to the guy who said he would quote for us but we were to not tell the original company anything about it and he wanted it cash in hand.
He showed to us his character and there was NO way we were having a cash in hand, single man job done by a fraudster.

[quote Chicchicchicchiclana]@rosie59 - no one legit wants £20,000 in cash do they though? Come on. It's an enormous pita to handle and offload. I can't think of any reason wby it would be more convenient for this tradesman to be paid in cash rather than by bank transfer.[/quote]
That is true I did only say its not illegal dodgy probably.

is mot illegal as in a criminal offence. However an illegal contract within contract law makes it unenforceable or void. Thus where the purpose of part of the contract is to defraud tax a court would likely find that there are no other remedies available to the parties tk the contract.

A contractor failing to pay the correct tax post contract would not make the underlying contract fail for illegality though.

I wouldn’t OP for all the reasons stated here

And also because every person who is dodging paying their fair share of tax just means it’s more likely the rest of us are going to suffer tax increases (Or cuts, or both)

You won’t get anyone openly admitting here that they would pay cash for a discount. Loads do though.

Actually this thread has made me think about a nail place I go to which is cash only. Might find a new place…

What were you planning on saying in the bank as you trotted in with your hold-all asking for £20k plus is cash 💰
🤣

A few hundred quid yes without a doubt

@myheartskippedabeat using it to decorate a room!!??

@worriedatthemoment

Not for something that big I wouldn't For small jobs I sometimes do as it saves me the vat , yes it may be wrong but the governments screw me over daily

This.

Yes, provided I get a receipt.

@myheartskippedabeat

What were you planning on saying in the bank as you trotted in with your hold-all asking for £20k plus is cash 💰 🤣

I'd say it's my account, give me my money.

When I lived in my old house a neighbour had a new roof and it was perfect. Another neighbour asked them to do his roof and when we saw how good the houses looked my husband asked them to do ours.
They did a first class job with scaffolding and top quality materials. We got a certificate and an invoice for the work and we paid cash but this was years ago when cash was king.
When I sold my house the new owners asked for the paperwork for the roof and I had mislaid it so I contacted the company who sent copies.
Not everything is dodgy.

When I moved house I found a guy through an ad in a shop who quoted me for a fence at one side of the house. It was a big job.
He asked me for the cash to buy the materials as he could not afford to buy them. I paid him cash and he gave me the receipts. He was lazy, his standard of work was dreadful. The fence was uneven and badly erected. My bloke brought his surveying equipment from work and sent him an email detailing the mistakes The fence had to be taken down and redone.
We never saw him again after that. He did not get paid. Asking for cash upfront for the materials should have been a red flag.

@DerAlteMann due to the amount of dodgy tradesmen around depending on things like your age, banks can be difficult giving you such a large sum of money in cash even if it is your own.

No way! It's not worth the risk. Tradesmen are in more demand than ever and the chances of having no recourse or even limited recourse because you paid cash but then need legal help are just too much.

Also DH used to be a builder. More roofers were a pain to work with than any other tradesmen.

Not for a roof, no. No come back if he fucks up as you won’t get a proper invoice. Not sure about ramifications for his insurance.
For small jobs like babysitting, cleaning, I have no issue paying cash in hand.

Regardless of the moral/legal side of things I definitely wouldn't want to carry/have £25k in cash. (The bank would likely ask questions about a withdrawal that size)