AIBU to refuse to pay cash in hand?

[Dontasksillyquestions]

This recently came up in conversation with a friend and she disagreed with me.

I generally avoid hiring anyone who asks to be paid cash in hand. I don’t see how cash is more convenient these days unless it’s to avoid tax, benefits rules, etc., and I don’t want to be involved. I also rarely carry cash and getting to a cash machine is inconvenient.

Last year I stopped using a regular gardener when he suddenly asked for cash only, despite there being no payment issues (I always transferred the money on the day he’d done the work). My friend thinks I’m being ridiculous and that it’s none of my concern how people run their business. AIBU?

i run a small business in addition to being employed. If someone pays me cash I, and they, know I’ve been paid. Paying by bank transfer means I need to chase payment which is credit control - it takes time and therefore costs me money to keep track of who has paid and to follow up when they don’t. It also costs me money if they simply don’t pay - small amounts so no worth chasing through more formal means.

Cash flow because I can then use that cash to pay for services that I use as part of the business, eg I always pay my clinical supervisor in cash. I also don’t pay charges for paying in cash but do for using card transactions as well as needing to pay for the card machine itself.

It’s all accounted for and taxed accordingly, it’s just easier as a very small business. I’m already paying 40% tax on my business earnings so the 2/3% for banking services and the loss of money if people don’t pay starts to make the business unviable.

@Jellycatspyjamas
you get instant notifications if you’re paid via bank transfer

I always send a copy of the bank's notification of payment. With my bank (Lloyds group) it actually formulates a generic message too. Makes life easy for me and the recipient cannot deny that the payment was made to their account. So easy to keep track of too.

It means their wages aren't going into an account that's nearing the bottom of the aforementioned overdraft, so the overdraft isn't eating it.

It's never unreasonable to pay how you prefer but making assumptions is unreasonable.

My partner requests his wages in cash. Still pays tax NI and into his pension though.

I don’t understand why anyone wants cash. It’s totally inconvenient

so many places are cashless, it’s becoming hard to spend

@CandyColouredEggshells

the HOC subsidised restaurants is not exclusively for MPs. They are only a small part of the workforce

Also, most MPs are normal people, they don’t earn a huge wage. There are easier ways to make money than doing that job! They’re not all Boris Johnsons and Rishi Sunaks you know

A roofer recently asked me to pay him the £8k bill in cash (id save on the VAT)

how am i supposed to withdraw such a large sum without the bank asking questions?

What places are cashless. None o know of in my town

It’s very unlikely that you could and if you tried you might be accused of aiding and abetting tax evasion. The bank may have to close your account as banks cannot handle the proceeds of crime (ie the unpaid VAT remaining in your bank account).

And important for us all to bear in mind.

This is a very good case where things are not clear-cut.

Not a chance.

is not unreasonable to make decisions that only impact you based on flawed assumptions

Imagine trying to operate a tax system which had to take a myriad personal circumstances into account when calculating the amount due. Our tax code is already one of the most complex in the world!

There should be legitimate help available to person A so they don’t have to commit a crime to survive. Potentially funded by greater sanctions for person B…

On the gov.uk website it shows that £6.5bn is lost to benefits fraud per year and 5.5bn to tax fraud, but a whopping 59.2bn shortfall in the difference between tax expected and tax paid! This is largely undeclared earnings I assume...