AIBU to not be an cash point for my boss?

[kardashianklone]

New job (in the UK). Boss not a UK national and is paid into non UK account in home currency. Boss flat out refuses to open UK bank account. Boss claims they cannot take out money from AMT using their home bank account card an Amex (which I think is not true- more likely boss doesn't want to pay transaction fees). Boss wants to PayPal me the money and for me to take out cash from my account for every transaction. This includes small things like lunches and coffees from Pret and big things like their council tax, water rates bill, electricity bill etc. So we are talking easily over a grand quite quickly. Things like household bills are very hard to pay if you don't have a UK bank account or UK registered credit or debit card and you usually have to make international wire transfers (which incur a fee) and they also don't accept Amex which is what boss have. Even buying train tickets on line is a nightmare. I think that 1. It is somewhat unethical of boss to ask me but I can't put my finger on why exactly and 2. what if I ever got audited and hmrc wants to know what this random influx of money that is not from employment is? Boss has asked me twice to do this. I have said clearly "no I don't want to do it, I feel uncomfortable ". Boss ignored me and said "it would really help me out and other people have done it for me" and did sad face and kept the pressure up. AIBU unreasonable and help me articulate why please!

Makes sense boss is female now I think about the sad face they did - I too had assumed it was a man!

Keep refusing & talk to HR - you are not in the wrong to stand up for yourself & for what you know is correct.

And please try to find another job.

You absolutely mustn't, you would be lining yourself up for a big fall.
Your Boss is an entitled bully, with no concern for you.
Suggest she asks someone else, as you can't help her.

If you work for a large company then do go to HR and if you have a whistleblower line use it.

I don't think this cannot be a large company, as they simply wouldn't set themselves up like this.

How long have you worked there and what is the type of business? This sounds dodgy as hell!

Years ago the foreign relatives of a very old friend of my parents asked me to oblige them, to pay for a carer. They transferred funds into an account in my name monthly, the carer withdrew it with a cash card to pay herself. It went on for over a year, and I sweated buckets in case the bank flagged it as money-laundering or the tax man came after me. I was so relieved when she finally went in a home and I could shut down the account.

Buckets! Thass what I sweated 😁

Maybe your predecessor left for this reason.

Say you've been discussing this with your friend the HMRC fraud investigator and they have told you not to do this!

You run the risk of being told to close your account. When banks spot something like this they shut down accounts after 30 days notice.

HR could give her a sort of expenses account if it's a big international company and she's not set up a UK bank account. They pay bills and take it out of her salary.
When you see HR ask them to do that.

Boss has no right to ask you for many reasons. Your financial affairs are private. Your DH might be having a tax audit on his business, for example, and HMRC would be looking very closely at your money. Or you might have an overdraught and her money would just feed it, not allowing you to get any out for her. It's none of her business and it's all wrong what she's asking.

You say she's very very senior, seems strange to go bothering colleagues and faffing about with cash transactions.

Dodgy as hell! You could be complicit in money laundering!!

If other people are so happy to do this for you, then ask them. I am definitely not happy to do it, and I know you are smart enough to see why

This

My gut reaction is that she's trying to evade UK tax by claiming she doesn't remit any of her earnings to the UK. On that basis, she'd be guilty of tax evasion and if you facilitated this you could potentially be caught up in money laundering or fall foul of the proceeds of crime act.

I agree with so many others that you shouldn't do it. You don't have to give a reason why. No can be a complete sentence. And I'm glad you're raising it with HR. Good luck!

Just listening to a radio programme today, about unwitting 'money mules' (typically 18 y/o girls on instagram) who accepted money into their account.

Money laundering is a criminal offence, and these young girls (from 14 onwards) have completely buggered up their financial future - cannot open any accounts etc.

I would be raising grievances with HR that you have been asked this question, rather than apologising for inconvenience caused by wanting to stop!

I am guessing there is no HR, however - OP I wish you the best, but you need to think about your own circumstances.

I suspect that the OP (quite rightly) has fudged some facts to avoid being identified. I doubt it's a big corporation, I doubt there's a HR department, a boss in those circumstances would never dare apply pressure like that. More likely a small business, and OP has no-one to back her.

No fudging, unfortunately. Very large company, global brand name you would know (but obviously I'm not going to reveal it). HR dept exists but I think is rather ineffective and over stretched. Boss is second most senior person in the company and it seems is impervious to normal hr protocol.

He might be doing it for all sorts of reasons - he might be able to claim benefits if there is no official record of him receiving an income, plus if he pays you via paypal and there is anything dodgy going on, paypal will do a reverse on your account to claim back the money. I would avoid it like the plague. He is obviously doing it for dodgy reasons, either immigration, tax avoidance, fraud, money laundering or all 4!

OP - I am confused then. So, this is nothing to do with your employer at all - in a direct sense.

Rather that your boss is asking you collude in their own personal tax evasion and money laundering.

You are, in effect, being blackmailed into doing something by someone who happens to be your boss at work.

This is wrong on so many levels, and has to stop today. Just refuse.

Tell your ineffectual HR - there is no legitimate business reason for any of this to happen.

Also tell HR that you will be raising grievances if there is the merest hint of reprisals from your boss because they are pissed off.

And then look for a (better) job.

No way, you're right to say no!

Another issue with PayPal is fees. I use it a lot for eBay and paying for other things and recently paid for a group break and stupidly asked everyone to pay me through PayPal. Turns out when your transactions go over a certain amount they deduct fees so I’m out of pocket. If your boss is truly trying to avoid fees (which I doubt!) then you can say that PayPal incurs fees too!!

Definitely say no. If she is as senior as you say, then I'd start looking for another job, sorry.

Report anonymously to HMRC too . Sounds like a big tax dodge!

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-tax-evasion

HR. And I guess you could actually report boss anonymously to HMRC in all good conscience, because if I did this I reckon my bank WOULD stop transactions on my account for money laundering. And ... jobsearch like a demon.

This seems really strange as paypal fees are actually really substantial on bigger amounts. If they are paid in euros they should get an app called revolut which comes with a card you can withdraw from otherwise they can use transferwise. Either way this falls under the category of not your problem!

You must say no to this you could get into serious trouble if she's doing anything dodgy and I'm pretty sure she is!

boss ignores and says "well the last person did it for me". Tell her that the last person obviously didn't understand the financial and legal implications. Luckily, you do, so there is no way that you would ever do that for anyone.

Are these requests verbal? Or in writing? I think you should always prepare for the worst case scenario. A future employment tribunal would have far more to go on if you had evidence. And if you haven't got anything in writing, then following the next request, perhaps email her with a request to stop asking you. At least that way, you've covered yourself.