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?

One of the pubs near us has their bank fees on a black board and asks for cash payments. I think they pay their casual staff in cash too. It’s so open i dont think it’s a tax dodge, it’s a bank fees dodge.

I have started to pay cash to my hairdresser since she told me how much it costs her for each card transaction to her bank account. It’s no skin off my nose as there’s a cash machine almost next door and I have absolutely no reason to believe she’s defrauding anyone.

Whether a small business/trader is paying tax or not is between them and HMRC, it is none of my business and it is rude to jump to conclusions.

I used to trade at dog shows (live 'cartoon your dog whilst you wait') and those would all be cash as most shows are in fields somewhere with poor phone/internet coverage. I would also pay for my trade stand in cash on the day. Why would you assume that money doesn't go through the books like any electronic payment does, based just on the fact it is cash?

We could all assume that, because someone has the means to do a bad thing, they are doing that bad thing... but that'd make life pretty shitty I think.

In plain english, evasion is avoidance. It's pretty arsey to "correct" someone for using plain English in a non legal forum just because the legal system has it's own definitions for it's own reasons.

This.
I have my own business and get charged more to pay cash in than I do card. I take both, but tend to use cash for my personal wage rather than paying it in.

My builders are happy to take cash or card. I get a receipt/invoice either way.

I think you are being too cynical; there are lots of reasons for asking for cash; avoidaing card charges is one.

Because you are assuming they are doing something wrong simply because they ask for cash. Judgement pouring out there

Card processing charges for small businesses are excessive, last year I did £700K in card transactions and £100K of that was taken as processing costs. That is a lot of money to lose out of the business and don’t get me started on the onerous T&Cs you have to agree to, they can just decide out of the blue you are a ‘risky’ business and then just hold all card transactions for to three months.
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Its to avoid you paying 20% VAT

That’s not always true for business banking. Some banks charge business accounts transaction fees on deposits.

No, it’s a clear distinction, and anybody living in the UK and subject to the UK tax system should understand the difference.

Tax avoidance is using legal means to pay minimal tax.

Tax evasion is fraud.

It’s ‘arsey’ to pretend that they’re the same thing.

HTH

It's not a crine

I think neither you or your friend are being unreasonable. Live and let live.

We all pay the price when people want to dodge paying their fair share of tax.

There is a lot of jargon in most professional fields and the legal field excels. The "clear distinction" is a legal one. It does not exist in plain english. When people are explicitly talking about legal jeopardy (as some are) it might be worth pointing out that legally there are tax avoidance processes that are not illegal but the ones that amount to evasion are a problem. But otherwise it's just language policing.

A beautician was recommended to me recently by a friend. After the appointment she asked for cash and I never carry cash. I asked if I could bank transfer it her and her response was “no because it will affect my universal credit”.

I felt very awkward and also impressed at her blatant honesty. She clearly wasn’t worried that I would report her

@Dontasksillyquestions i like cash and im i think it would be shame to loose it.
I lift cash weekly so being paid cash would save me lifting it for myself. Some places still only take cash .
Who cares what others do worry about yourself and your choices in life .

Agree, it’s entitled to ask for cash all the time especially when it’s £350 per day by greedy ass builders. Nobody has time to walk to an atm, often vandalised, remember pins and cards. Nightmare

It’s fairly easy to see the difference between avoiding tax (setting up a company, paying minimum wage and taking dividends with lower tax rates) and evading tax (not declaring income to avoid paying income tax or VAT).

One is legal, one is not.

It’s really interesting reading this thread. The cash economy costs the country between £2.6 and £10bn a year. Asylum seekers costs £4bn (except most of that is saved from the money we no longer send overseas). But even without those facts: both situations are just humans trying to survive a difficult economic situation. Attitudes to both situations seem vastly different.

Wrong. If you pay people in cash and they're avoiding taxes and/or child support, you're facilitating that. You're helping them.

Plus just not wanting to pay cash is a perfectly reasonable position anyway. It's an arse

Using legal definitions, yes. Using plain english, there is no reason at all why the latter isn't also avoidance.

Some people genuinely still use cash instead of tapping all of the time. Cash is used regularly where I live. What’s wrong with that?

I’d prefer to use cash as once it’s gone we are screwed BUT I’m too lazy to go to the cash machine.

I do however pay for my nails in cash. She went cash only as she had exceeded limits on her personal account and didn’t want to pay the fees that came with a business account (or so I’m told).

I suspect if the VAT threshold had been lowered in the last budget as had been threatened then a few more people would have been happy to pay cash and save 20% on their cleaner/hairdresser/beauty therapist etc

DP is a tradesman, sometimes he gets cash, sometimes it's bank transfer. He doesn't dodge tax and we're not on benefits. I am PAYE so my tax comes out every month. I mean, aside from the fact that not every one being paid in cash is a benefit cheat or tax dodger, I'm also in the camp of that you're paying for a job to be done, what they do with the money you pay them is really none of your business.