Builder asking for payment after cash paid and VAT quote concerns

[AmIbeingscammed]

I had a quote for landscaping that said including vat. Work has been done and I paid £1000 by bank transfer for some materials prior to completion. The chap then called round and asked for £1000 in cash to pay his workers ( I was waiting for an ambulance to come as was extremely unwell with a raging infection) I paid the £1000 cash.
He has now messaged me asking if he can come round for payment, I said to send me an invoice including the vat breakdown and I will pay. I don't think he is vat registered but does seem to be a registered Ltd company.
I just have a bad feeling, I'm still not well and he told me whilst the work was in progress that one of the workers was due in court for putting his fist through someone's window. I would never have agreed to employing his services if I had known this.
I'm cross with myself for paying the cash , I'm worried he'll come round and mess up the work that's been done.
He finished the job 3 days ago.

My husband is a similar trade. He is vat registered. And has just switched from being a sole trader to a Ltd company. He has had to open a new bank account for the Ltd company and some people (who have used him before) are confused by having to pay to a different account to the one they already have stored for him.

Just to let you know there could be a valid reason for the different bank account. (Although my husband's new invoices have the new bank account on).

The original quote didn't have any bank details on it. I received an email with an automated payment method and an option to download the invoice.

You did the right thing OP
I wouldn’t worry now. It’s all done

Yes , I've paid. I think he pays his workers in cash and was probably hoping not to declare this job. The account he wants me to pay is in his name not the company name .

It’s illegal to charge VAT if you are not registered to do so.

Paying the workers in cash means he doesn’t have to pay their national insurance

< moving over to the thread on pensions and national insurance >

Its no wonder the country is in a mess if the builder is doing that

If he's changed his bank account that could be a problem, but he really should have changed the invoice to the right account, can you get your bank to cancel the payment if it's gone to the wrong account?

No , he'll have to sort it out.He trades under the name ABC and that's the company I paid.

I don't understand why you're going on about VAT?
You've paid him two grand so you owe him the rest. So pay it.

Why have you got a bad feeling about it after the work has been completed. Why would he come and mess it up? Do you think the thing about the worker being in court was some kind of veiled threat?

Why would he threaten you, he's owed payment and presumably you're going to pay him?

I have paid him

Was the other bank account a personal one?

I don't understand why you're going on about VAT
Because quoting 'including vat' indicates that you are vat registered and he is not.

Yes

But you didn’t check. So you’ve given him a 20% bonus.

Looks like it

So it’s tax avoidance as well. And potentially income tax avoidance by his workers.

His invoice absolutely should be paid, once he provides one.

OP, I wouldn't worry about the VAT element. If his unvoice includes it, pay it and that's that as far as you're concerned.

What did you agree at the outset re method of payment? If you agreed cash you need to pay cash. If not, tell him there's no point coming round as you don't have cash in the house, but you'll pay by transfer as soon as you get his final invoice.

If there's a hint of a threat you call the police, but hopefully it won't come to that.

Yes . He gave all the chat (as they do) when he came to quote, I looked up reviews, all good, the work is fine but I just started to get an uneasy feeling with things that he was saying once the job started.

Did you check if he’s vat registered and found that he is not?
You were aware of the amount plus vat and this is what you’ve paid him, what he declares is up to him don’t give it any more thought

I’ve had that
A company called Ambler based in Medway
and I don’t mind calling them out on it either
They started getting aggressive , installed the wrong windows ( cheaper than the ones specified) didn’t finish the job because
“ Oh Snoopy we don’t know what to do Lee gets angry with us if we can’t get it all done to his schedule, can we just not do This bit….blah blah”
standing over me with no shirts on etc

A woman on her own. Wonder if they pull this one with men

No mention of cash payments, he asked for £1000 half way through for materials ,which I received an invoice for but he asked for it to be paid to his personal account not the business account on the invoice. Once the job was finished he didn't send an invoice but asked for cash- I paid him £1000 cash .
i have paid the balance to the business account but he messaged and asked for it to be paid to his personal account.

1. If he has already issued an invoice for £1,000, he shouldn't issue a second invoice for that amount or the £1,000 would be double counted as revenue in the company accounts.

2. The company can provide a pro forma invoice, which is not a VAT invoice, to trigger your customers to pay. This wouldn't need all the same info as a full blown VAT invoice.

3. As you are not a VAT registered person, the company does not need to issue you with a full VAT invoice, as you can't recover any VAT yourself. The company should still give you an invoice which contains less info.

4. You can request a statement, which would show all of the invoices totalling £6,700 along with the payments you have made.

5. It's still relatively normal for people working in the construction trade to request cash. As long as you have a record of payments made (I would always ask for a signed receipt for cash paid when it's handed over) it doesn't mean they are definitely involved in dodgy dealings. Some workers simply prefer cash themselves.

You've paid him the amount quoted. You're happy with the work.

What's the issue exactly? You've paid the money and had the job done.

Am struggling to understand the problem.

He told you he would do the work for X amount.

You agreed.

He did the job to a good standard.

He then asked for X amount.

You paid it.

What's the problem? That you think the quote should have been 20% cheaper because he might not be VAT registered?

But if it was 20% cheaper he wouldn't have done the work?

You’re right. Silly me thinking the NHS and other public services needed more than fresh air to run. Tax/VAT avoidance affects all of us in the end.