To expect people to pay their share of tax

[ChrissieS79]

Was at a BBQ at the weekend in my street and one of the neighbours who's a self employed window cleaner/gardener/odd jobs kinda guy after a few too many white wine spritzers proudly announced to anyone who'd listen that he pays almost no tax coz his work is cash in hand.

Went on to boast about upcoming holidays and a new car when the new reg plate comes out in Sept.

I know it shouldn't bother me and that it doesn't affect me directly but it's got my blood boiling, and wondering how much of this goes on

, that's me told then.

I haven't heard either. So you're all wrong. Just accept that and get back to the discussion.

It has always been a homer here, as long as I can remember. And I'm not young.

Although I'm perfectly willing to accept that other people in other areas call it a foreigner.

Homer makes sense to me, it's usually doing work at a mates home. Not sure of the logic of foreigner, can anyone explain?

Well for me it's always been called a "roll", but a lot of people here are going to say it's a bun or a bap.

Do I say "it's been called a roll for donkey's years, this is political correctness gone mad, MAD I TELL YOU!"?

Or do I say "we call it different things in different places"?

It's called a barrow job where I am, just to add to the mix.

I use bap, roll and bun , it covers all bases.

When I said politically correct I was asking a genuine question if 'foreigner' is no longer an acceptable term to use. I didn't intend to sound 'superior' at all.

SanDiago round here it's known as a 'guvvy'. Never heard of it being called a foreigner, or a homer. I suppose different areas have different slang words for it?

I live in Scotland and have never heard it called s 'foreigner'. I have always called it a homer since it was done in people's homes. This post is first time I've heard that term for a home job.

It's most definitely known as a "homer" in Scotland and has been for donkey's years ;-)

I am self-employed. I have always played everything by the book and declared every penny to HMRC. It does annoy me when other people don't but if this person is stupid enough to boast loudly about what he is doing, HMRC will catch up with him.

It was always called doing work "on the side" when I was growing up. !and I agree.

It's a homer here too. Foreigner would make me think it was the meaning of someone from abroad.

'Homers?'confused extra work outside of a tradesman' day job is known as a 'foreigner' and has been for donkey's years.

I've never heard of 'foreigner' (except for the band).

It's always been 'homer' where I'm from.

And I thought your post was pretty arsey too.

But back to the original question, I'm self employed and always declare all my earnings.

The nature of my job and the way I'm paid means tax evasion is more or less impossible.

Slightly off topic but when I first joined mumsnet I commented on a thread about a tradesperson and used the phrase doing a foreigner. Well I confused everyone! I've not heard the phrase homer but its not hard to guess that it means much the same thing.

And I'll have you all know it's a breadcake not a bun, bap, roll or any other of this madness

A bread roll is a cob in Derbyshire

Another scot here and it's always been homer here. Shop him to HMRC op.

Pisses me right off to. It's fraud report

Yeah, homer here too. But i didn't think stayingclassy's post was arsey.

So anyway, what is the going rate for a window cleaner?

I think the reason for foreigner is its foreign to ones normal employment?

Teacake
Muffin
Bunny

Shall we start the ginnel argument?

It's a foreigner (and a batch) where I grew up.

I work for a Very Small company (10 of us, including the two directors). Boss's view on "how much for cash" - which he gets relatively frequently - is "£X" (where X is however much it costs normally). Most people accept this. If he's asked again "No, really, how much for cash " He replies with "£X+10" because actually taking cash is a real ball ache because 95% of our customers pay by bank transfer or card (the remainder by cheque) so having cash means we actually have to go to the bank! Just because we (or any other business) accepts cash, doesn't mean they're doing anything dodgy. It is perfectly acceptable to take cash payments and declare it all to the relevant authorities.

You can't hide it anymore.
You can't get mortgages or rent without an income.
You can't pay it into the bank without questions
You can't pay for a car in cash of over £4000 without them being legally obliged to tell HMRC.

The 'good' times are over as far as 'cash in hand' is concerned
As for reporting him, that's your moral dilemma. Presumably his kids don't use schools, doctors or any council services if he's not paying for it?!

Breadcake

Guvvy job (which is ironic, because these are the ones that the Government doesn't know about) or ont'side or foreigner

Never heard the term Homer but as people use different words for different things, I am happy that it is in common use somewhere else in the country. How many people on this thread (yes, I know some will) know what a ginnel or a breadcake is or what a proper fishcake (not those crappy ones made out of fish mashed potato and breadcrumbs) looks like?

Back to the OP, yes Mr loudmouth tax avoider is an arse and hopefully he will get caught sooner or later. HMRC is cracking down on small traders that evade tax NI and to them it is fairly easy to spot. They know someone earning NMW cannot afford a nicely decorated nice house and numerous foreign holidays and that if there has been a lottery win/inheritence/well paid spouse, there will be evidence of this.

I heard once that someone was caught because when the inspector looked at someone's books, accounts and household spending and they noticed that there was no evidence of the family ever buying any food or fuel for the wife's car - £2/300 pw in cash had been hidden in paying for the household's groceries and general spending.

According to HMRC's Tax Gap analysis, the UK loses £5bn a year through small businesses not declaring all their income.

I wonder how they work that out? Is there some super-tech algorithm us mere mortals could never understand or is it based on the number of drunken loud-mouth tradesmen with fast cars and no cash in the bank?

And just to REALLY throw a spanner in the works, here we call it a 'hobble'. Or more precisely an 'Obble cos we're welsh and hate the letter H....