Why isn't there a Tax Cheats Hotline to report builders...

[Bakelitebelle]

.....carpenters and other workmen, who ask for payment in cash and sometimes take VAT off if you pay them cash?

Tax cheats the lot of them. Why all the threads getting sniffy about benefit fraudsters when Tax fraudsters cost the country billions?

There is

www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/ContactOrDealWithHMRC/DG_10010579

wanting paymnat in cash does not a tax cheat make.DH is self employed and rather be paid in cash to avoid banking charges.

good point

as it seems everybodys on some sought of tax/benefit take,would it not be easier to ABOLISH income tax,then all that extra could go back into the economy without the admin

meant tongue in cheek but the more i think about it

so everybody who has a trade is a tax cheat .... go shag yourself with your 2.2 degree diploma

Same as dandelionss here. DH Works mostly in cash to avoid outrageous bank charges. Constantly amazed at the number of customers who ASK for a discount for cash though. Effectively asking him to commit tax fraud to save them a buck. He always refuses.

I didn't know there was a hotline thanks, dh was told earlier this week that was we can't pay in cash we will gave to pay the VAT, been seething at the cheek of it ever since, at least now I know I can do something about it.

Really? You would report a trades person who offered you a discount for cash? Don't you have bigger things to give a fuck about?

We paid our builder in cash so he can pay his small workforce in cash to make life easier for him, doesn't automatically mean he commited fraud. wow your builders are gonna love working for you

Same as Dandelionss & bookbird, DH prefers to be paid in cash as bank charges are outrageous. DH doesnt have enough turnover to register for VAT.

Can we have a helpline to report the ignorant morons who insist on having their electric/gas/building works done by their unqualified mate who does the job for cash and a few beers?

I wouldn't assume paying in cash would mean the money isn't going through the books, but if you are sure it is, then you should report.

Worry not Calma I don't have enough money to pay for builders.

So are you all telling me that builders etc., never ask for cash to avoid going through the books? It's ALWAYS about bank charges? I will happily accept this explanation if this is so. Currently I just don't believe a word of it.

I like the tradesmen who charge less for cash. I paid £15 less than I would have done to have a leak in our roof fixed two years ago. DH had just lost his job at the time and I couldn't care less if the workmen wanted to avoid tax or bank charges. I just wanted the roof fixed as cheaply as possible because we were completely broke, but didn't fancy our house flooding.

so you want to report someone who is trying to save you a bit of money??

Or you want to report someone who is ripping off the taxman and ergo the government and the greater good?

Good on you OP.

Sent too soon.

It is people that undercut by knocking VAT off that piss off the builders/handymen who do everything properly and by the book, like Gnome's DP.

Bakelitebelle my DH prefers cash as it doesnt have to go through the bank account and therefore incur charges. A cheque deposit costs around 30p, a cheque out costs around 70p. Therefore not making a payment in and taking money out saves £1. This is every single transaction, it soon adds up for a small business where every penny counts.

DH suggested a few other reasons why small businesses prefer cash

• no need to wait for cheques to clear
• no need to worry about a cheque bouncing

If your tradesmen keep asking for cash rather than cheque perhaps they worry that you arent reliable.

builders have to buy their materials. credit at builders yards got very hard to get in the credit crunch. being paid in cash from job 1 maybe allows builders to pay for materials on job 2.

Small businesses very often go under not because of lack of profit, but because of lack of liquidity: this is even more so in a recession.

I run a VAT registered business, today we received a written signed order from a customer to install a boiler. He then asked us to knock off the VAT and wanted to pay cash. When I explained that I was not prepared to lose my business, my home and for my kids to go into care (while I go to jail) so he could save £50, he cancelled the order. I think there should be a hotline not just to report ANY paid person who avoids income tax and VAT but also those trying to incite tax evasion by asking trades to 'forget' the VAT. We try to everything the right way, we are fully qualified and registered with the relevant associations, trading standards approved, reviewed on Which? and hold insurance. We cannot complete against customers who ask to take off the VAT and look to contract trades who either aren't qualified/registered or pay tax. You don;t go into Tesco to buy a loaf of bread and say if I pay cash will you knock off 10p.

My DS is a painter and decorator (not VAT registered so it doesnt apply to him) and he hates being paid in cash.......the inland revenue hate traders dealing in cash and it makes things so bloody awkward.

Mind you, they are saving you 20% if they do this......whatever the law, if someone was to save me 20% just for giving cash I would bite their hand off!

The problem is not paying in cash, but not giving a proper invoice and receipt.

I worked in a garage during my youth and the owner used to give discounts for payment by cash

My ExP is also a tax and csa dodger by dealing mainly with cash in his mickey mouse business. I'm going to report him for doing this.

calma,
if your workman pays his team in cash, how does he pay NI for them etc. If he was just handing them over cash end of that woudl be easier but also illegal, so surely it is more of a hassle for him to sort out their NI contributions, his employers contributions tax etc without using the PAYE system.

Gnome,
there is a hotline for reporting people who work on gas appliances without the correct registration as this can be fatal. Google gas safety and they should have a site.

call the hotline, if is not dodging tax he will not have a problem , if he is he will just have to face the consequences. When you do not pay tax it means that the most vunerable suffer -where do you think the money for schools, disability allowances, hospitals comes from. The more people that encourage tax dodging the less help there can be from the state.

BIL is an electrician. Much prefers payment in cash as it saves him the time, hassle and embarassment of knocking on customer's door after a week when their cheque bounces. Particularly as his business gets charged when the customer's cheque bounces

As he has to complete paperwork confirming that he is qualified and has done the job, he'd have to be pretty stupid to not put it through the books.

Strange that you didn't mention reporting teacher's who home tutor? Or nursery nurses who babysit for cash? Just because someone wears overalls or jeans for work, it doesn't make them dodgy.

Often the real problem if you are a sole trader or small business is actually getting paid at all. Constantly chasing and having to re-issue "lost" invoices, constantly checking the bank account to see whether cheques have cleared or credits have gone through is time consuming and sometimes humiliating. If cash is paid there and then there's no problem.