Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you would report this

117 replies

sweetsweetlovin · 09/04/2018 21:32

My neighbour is an electrician. He isn't self employed and works for a company.

Anyway, I know his wife and she makes a joke out the fact that he earns a fortune doing homers and gets away with paying no tax. He earns decent money in his job but can do a couple of rewires a month as well as odd jobs. This can net him a few thousand extra per month. He has bought a van so he can do these homers on the side.

She jokes that the taxman will never find out and it affords them holidays, designer clothes and for her to be a sahm.

Now I have a really good job that I enjoy and my DH also has a good job. I know it shouldn't but it riles me that I am taxed at source on all my earnings and she's boasting about her husband dodging the taxman.

I can see why people would say stay well away and not report and I can see why others would report it.

WWYD?

Btw I have name changed for this.

OP posts:
Stardust91 · 10/04/2018 18:17

HollowTalk i think that's why people are encouraged to ask and demand for receipts AND also making sure the receipt is for the full amount they paid and not half the money. The electrician is obviously getting away with it by not giving out receipts and probably only accepting cash. And if he has a 'safe place' at his house he can just store the cash there and not deposit in the bank. No trail whatsoever.

I feel like i need to add that i am not self employed and all my earnings are being taxed Grin

Zoflorabore · 10/04/2018 18:17

Here in Liverpool it's always been called doing a "foreigner".

Never heard of homer.

Lots of people do this, especially beauticians/hairdressers by me.

I don't think people tend to report them as they are essentially benefitting themselves by receiving the service at a reduced rate.

HeartCurrent · 10/04/2018 18:19

Yanbu however let them carry on, the more they don't pay tax the more they will owe when they're discovered. I'm sure with the fact she's telling people what they're up to it won't stay secret very long.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 10/04/2018 18:24

“Today 17:49 sweetsweetlovin

Well here's an example...

His wife was annoyed that he completed a full rewire on a property and the owner needed a receipt for various reasons and her DH refused. She couldn't understand why people might need a receipt.”

I don’t really get this. What did she think would happen with aReceipt that would somehow mean it alerts the revenue to his tax situation?

frieda909 · 10/04/2018 18:25

THOUSANDS extra a month?!

I wouldn’t report it but I would be pretty certain that he’s going to get caught eventually. Death and taxes and all that.

Unless he’s doing some pretty creative money-laundering then it’s got to be pretty easy to see that his outgoings don’t match his reported income?

expatinscotland · 10/04/2018 18:26

No, I wouldn't report it.

PlonkyPlink · 10/04/2018 18:29

Homer is a common word in Scotland (unsure about other regions) for doing a cash in hand job in addition to having a normal paid, employed job.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 10/04/2018 18:30

I presume all of the posters saying report it are very happy (and always do) pay the full price and book through a firm for every job they get done. none of you have ever had a washing machine fixed, or a carpet laid or anything else by a tradesman outside their working hours for less money than it would normally cost?

BuildingBearFun · 10/04/2018 18:33

I get why it's annoying, but I definitely wouldn't report. And tbh, I'd find more time for getting fucked off about the people earning a shit load more than him, and employing people to find tax loop holes. And corporations dodging tax

I find this totally baffling. So ItsNice you have a problem with people who engage in legitimate means of legal tax avoidance but are absolutely fine with those who engage in wholly illegal tax evasion and fraud? I can’t even comprehend how you can reconcile those two points of view in your head.

Joey7t8 · 10/04/2018 18:35

I don’t really get this. What did she think would happen with aReceipt that would somehow mean it alerts the revenue to his tax situation?

Chances are that it was a rented property and the landlord is able to legitimately deduct the cost of any maintenance costs from his rental income, on which he/she would have to pay tax. If the landlord then had his tax return audited (it happens), the inspector would be alerted by a receipt for a large expense from a company or sole trader that they have no record of.

DairyisClosed · 10/04/2018 18:36

I would, just to teach her a lesson for being so stupid (not to mention crude) as to talk about that. I must admit that once think taxes are too high, or rather that thresholds for upper tax bands are too low but even then it is not right to fraudulently avoid tax. Ultimately it means that those who do the right thing pay more.

britnay · 10/04/2018 18:36

Is he properly insured to do this work?
Obviously he will be insured through his work to do their works, but will he be insured for the self employed jobs? What if something goes wrong?

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 10/04/2018 18:36

I don’t think it’s any different really buildingbear. All it is is corporations employing people who are, on mass, smarter and better resourced than the revenue to out wit them. I know as I’m one of them 😂

DailyMailReadersAreThick · 10/04/2018 18:37

What the hell is a "homer?"

Yes, I'd report if I had enough information.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 10/04/2018 18:37

How is insurance related to paying tax? It’s up to the customer to ask for proof of insurance.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 10/04/2018 18:39

Chances are that it was a rented property and the landlord is able to legitimately deduct the cost of any maintenance costs from his rental income, on which he/she would have to pay tax. If the landlord then had his tax return audited (it happens), the inspector would be alerted by a receipt for a large expense from a company or sole trader that they have no record of.

This is seriously unlikely, although in theory could be the reason. I find it unlikely the electrician thought of this vauge possibility though tbh

snowy1982 · 10/04/2018 18:51

Personally I wouldn’t report it, I know it sticks in a lot of people’s throats when people cheat the tax man and the benefit system (me included) but I just wouldn’t do it.

2 reasons being OP does sound like she’s doing it becasue she doesn’t like the wife and also she doesn’t actually know if it’s true. The wife might be totally exaggerating, the guy might only be doing a few small jobs that are not bringing in anywhere near the sort of money the wife is talking about.

Also, I am not sure of the actual amount involved, but there are laws to allow people to do ‘homers’ without having to report the income. There is a maximum amount allowed under this rule and if the guy is ‘netting’ thousands a month obvs he would be breaching them, but OP has no actual idea of what he is earning

GREATAUNT1 · 10/04/2018 19:04

If someone bothers me I confront them. I can’t see the point in grassing them up on the sly, if you can’t say it to their faces then don’t bother.

KMoKMo · 10/04/2018 19:09

I’d report it.

Jotribiani · 10/04/2018 19:10

As said above. It’s a foreigner, lots of trades do it. Electrians, plumbers hairdressers etc. Mind your own business! The wife has spoken to you thinking she can trust you yet you’re on here questioning if you should report them! This is why you can not trust anyone these days because of people like you

Joey7t8 · 10/04/2018 19:11

This is seriously unlikely, although in theory could be the reason. I find it unlikely the electrician thought of this vauge possibility though tbh

I agree it is unlikely that a private landlord would be investigated. It does happen though, particularly if they have other significant income streams.

MelvinThePenguin · 10/04/2018 19:12

I presume all of the posters saying report it are very happy (and always do) pay the full price and book through a firm for every job they get done. none of you have ever had a washing machine fixed, or a carpet laid or anything else by a tradesman outside their working hours for less money than it would normally cost?

Yes, I always pay full price. I don't use 'firms' but I insist on paying self employed tradesmen electronically as a minimum and getting a receipt if they are VAT registered. I have been offered VAT free prices for cash in hand and declined to use that tradesperson as a result.

I take things back to shops if I've been accidentally undercharged.

I report minor interest payments from my bank to HMRC where I think there may be tax owing. I keep records of the interest my children earn from money we give them.

People with very high levels of morality do exist. The "everyone does it" argument really grates on me.

GREATAUNT1 · 10/04/2018 19:15

Well said Snowy!

Op have you ever thought that the wife may be jealous of you & your lifestyle? I certainly wouldn’t be bragging if I was up to anything. Or she could just be doing it to wind you up knowing how you feel. Also would you be prepared for them finding out that it was you who reported them? These things can get very nasty, & it’s you who has to live there.

MelvinThePenguin · 10/04/2018 19:20

there are laws to allow people to do ‘homers’ without having to report the income. There is a maximum amount allowed under this rule and if the guy is ‘netting’ thousands a month obvs he would be breaching them, but OP has no actual idea of what he is earning

Very interested to know what these laws are.

You can earn money from the occasional boot sale without paying tax, for example. But plying a trade? Not so much.

RiceBaby · 10/04/2018 19:25

Mind your own business. Being a rat is a horrible thing.