Hairdresser asking me to pay in cash

[Sally3490]

I've been going to my hairdressers for about 10 years. It's quite pricey £160 for full highlights and a cut (London). When I was last in they asked if I would pay in cash in future. The ATM is on route so in theory I could, but it adds some level of inconvenience and I'd rather not be carrying that amount of cash with me. But also, I feel it's damn cheeky. They are charging alot of money and should be paying their taxes. AIBU?

I was going to say the same thing.

Plus you’re potentially enabling them to stay within the income threshold that means they get additional benefits

And, you’re overpaying. The going rate in your area is the cost LESS tax (VAT and income tax).

So you’re a mug for thinking you’re paying her the same price as you would someone else. The difference as @HoskinsChoice points out is that the part of your payment that should be directed towards improving the public services you use and running the country … is instead going in her pocket. So it’s very much a you problem!!

Aaaaaaaarrrggghhhh!!!!! How many times?!?! This is not true! Processing cash is just as expensive as processing card transactions. They're making a fool of you by influencing you to trot out their lies.

I'm NW and my hairdresser only takes cash payments, ive been going to him for 20+ years. Also don't think £160 is bad for London, I pay £140

I dont mind at all. Card payment charges can ruin a small business.

Card machine fees are 1% - so £1.60 on £160 , hardly huge.

It's clearly a tax dodge.

If your hairdresser rents a chair rather than being directly employed by the salon, I can see why.
The government has recently started a new scheme for self employed who earn above a certain level called Making Tax Digital. It gives them a much closer look at what the self employed person earns and spends.
So I should imagine she’s asking for cash from some clients so she doesn’t have to record it.
Yes, it could be seen as dishonest, but I do the books for my self employed friend and let’s just say it’s scaring the horses. It’s a bit of a nightmare to deal with.
I have no problem paying cash. It takes a few minutes to withdraw it.
We are all getting so lazy and I include myself. I wanted to watch a film yesterday that had gone off a streaming channel. I have it on DVD and could literally not be arsed finding it and loading it.
£160 is a great price for your location and a great hairdresser who knows your hair is hard to find.

Ask to pay by bank transfer.

Ask her what's the price for cash, just like any other tradie.
I'd offer £130.

It looks like a decent contactless device is about £200.
Transaction fees are approx 1.7% and a monthly subscription fee of £20.

Counting cash, keeping it safe and the time taken to pay it in over the counter sounds like more hassle.

Wait. What?! You think paying by card to try to prevent fraud is the public being lazy? I despair.

This always gets trotted out and it's nonsense. Fees for paying in cash to a business account are much higher.

Another one who doesn’t want to pay into the public pot. But I bet would want the fire engine to turn up if her house was burning.
And don’t say about no pay when sick etc. Costs for holiday etc are built into charges to customers.
Not good.

I honestly couldn’t give a monkeys if it was to dodge paying a bit of tax. Life is far too short for me to be worrying about if my hairdresser is declaring my £160 to HMRC, especially if it’s one I’ve been happy enough going to for 10 years.

Do people really think that these businesses will declare each and every cash transaction? Do they think they are going to carry a bag full of cash across town and pay the expensive fees to pay the cash into a business account? Of course not, it's going straight in their pockets and those of us who are employed have to make up the deficit in taxes.

Bank transfer is easier for everyone then, surely?

My hairdresser is self employed and rents a chair in a salon.
I'vd been going to her for 20 years and she's always been cash only.

I don't see an issue.

But probably expect public services to miraculously operate .Those who have to pay via PAYE cannot prop up those services on their own.

“It could be seen as dishonest” … it’s literally tax evasion and it’s illegal.

And MTD is based on last years income, so it’s too late to artificially reduce to get out of it now.

It’s people like this why the country doesn’t collect all the tax it’s owed - not the rich and large companies who usually get blamed who are on the whole paying the right amount of tax legally due.

I don’t do cash payments, because almost all of the cash machines near me have been removed. It is a royal pain to arrange to have specific amounts of cash ready.

I pay immediately with bank transfer (or card in the case of shops) and make this clear upfront to any service provider whom I use.

Obviously if I am in my favourite cafe (they have a little cash-preferred sign by the till) and have a note with me then I will pay with it, but as a general principle - no.

Someone couldn’t clean for a hospital or school, or be a TA or healthcare assistant on a cash basis so I don’t really understand why a self employed person is deemed to be more in need of our sympathy than someone doing those tough jobs. Not to mention absentee parents (who are mostly men) taking cash payments in order to evade child maintenance.

I am self employed too btw.

And why are payment processing fees deemed to be so unfair? The companies maintain a huge infrastructure to support instant payments, so of course it needs to be funded in some way. VISA employs thousands of people in the UK.

If we dont start using cash we will lose it.

No they aren’t. And some banks charge to pay in cash.

I care!!!!
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates that £5.5 billion is lost annually to tax evasion. However, government bodies, including the Public Accounts Committee and independent campaigners, warn that this is likely an underestimate.

It’s not ok. The rest of us have to pay taxes, so should the self employed.

Not if everyone has their own card machine. I have been in hairdressers where this happens

I pay by bank transfer, it’s free for my hairdresser that way

No because that’s incredibly risky. One wrong digit in the transaction and it goes elsewhere. “Oh I thought I’d typed £160, did I only type £16? Oh what a shame!”, people saying they’d pay when they get home because they don’t have signal and not paying etc etc.