AIBU to be so sick of tradespeople/ cleaners asking for cash in hand?

[Endlesspasswords]

So my cleaner charges £21/hour cash, but just said she wants more if I pay by bank transfer, because bank transfer means she can’t dodge declaring it. As if paying by transfer (i.e. traceably) is some kind of favour/ privilege I should pay extra for.

Same with some work I got a quote for- it’s the attitude that if I don’t want to pay in cash, I’m the one ‘hurting’ their bank balance or being awkward.

I’m freelance B2B myself. No sick pay, no employer pension contributions, no paid holiday, I know exactly what it’s like to carry your own tax and NI. But I still pay tax on every invoice, because that’s the deal.

I’m so sick with the fact that self-employed people in one sector get to treat tax as optional while others pay for their healthcare, schools etc.

and yes, I’m getting a new cleaner.

You can do both. Report the cleaner AND stop buying from Amazon. Think how much better public services could be then!

And when your partner has a heart attack and you call for an ambulance and no one comes in time? That’s karma.

Yep. I commented on this somewhere upthread. My SiL split from her ex recently. He’s self employed and was paying her a pathetic amount of voluntary child maintenance so she went through CMS. She ended up worse off because the payments are based on declared wages and he’s declaring far less than we know to be the case. I wouldn't pay cash in hand for anything, having seen the consequences first hand.

This is how so many self employed men can get away with paying child maintenance because they are not declaring their true income .

How cringe to ask! It’s like asking a planning officer if he’ll give you planning permission if you give him an envelope full of cash. That someone thinks THAT badly of him!

The problem is the consequences of tax dodging are far reaching and there’s no way to tell whether those asking for cash are involved in it or not.

Believe me that does happen with planning applications. It’s amazing how many people think the planning system is straight in this country 😆

So you want to get rid of cash?

Nope. I'm not into kicking people on barely minimum wage, but you crack on

Would you really report a low paid female cleaner on about £22k a year?

No it means his business is turning over 90k before any costs are considered - his income will be nowhere near that and like you he will not have any employed benefits.
Are you sure he wasn’t suggesting you pay direct for materials (which will be cash/transfer if you lack a trade account) rather than paying him personally in cash? I’ve known tradies say they simply can’t take a piece of work because it tips them over the threshold and the additional costs incurred wipe out the value of the work or offer to do the work but after date X as they are too close to the threshold. The VAT threshold is pretty low for sole traders considering the rising costs of materials/insurance etc.

For a weekly cleaner/gardener etc just asking for cash payments I’d say no but for tradies doing specific jobs involving qualified skills and materials I’d check first to find out what the issue was.

I'm going to be the odd one out here and say that I don't really care... I know quite a few people who are happy to accept a little bit of cash in hand money. It's quite a poor area around me, and people do what they need to to pay their bills.

I'm getting a private hire taxi to the airport next week, and being picked up the week after. I'm paying the guy who does it in cash.

Of course there is no way of knowing on a case by case basis, but starting from the POV of assuming guilt is - to me - not right.

When did you last use the NHS or get your bins emptied?

People keep saying about asking for cash simply to avoid bank charges - this is nonsense. I'm self-employed and bank transfers cost nothing, but I am charged a percentage to pay cash into my business account. It's not much and I don't mind, but I do mind when clients insist on paying me cash, in a nudge nudge, wink wink sort of way. It's all declared, thanks.

Edited for typo

All paid for through council tax.

Agree.

Increased tax revenue could fund universal subsidies for high-cost necessities—such as public transport, childcare, or social housing— thereby reducing the overall income a worker needs to maintain an acceptable standard of living.

I think you were right to use the word “could”, rather than “would”. In reality the money would just be pissed away into the ether.

The cleaner in the OP charges £21 per hour. That’s the equivalent of about £40k per year. Not minimum wage, is it?

So tradesmen and cleaners can avoid tax but what about the poor sods who are low paid but are on paye, i.e. supermarket workers, waiters, health care assistants etc? Why should they pay tax when tradesmen and cleaners don't (and probably illegally claim benefits too!).

I’d be generally interested to know what planning authority is taking bribes and whether have you reported them or their officers?

There is sometimes a bit of confusion about S102s where a developer agrees to provide funding for example, a school or an asset for the community in exchange for allowing building. That’s not bribery, that’s ensuring that there is a net gain for the public to offset any potential loss of existing assets.

Everyone should report them to hmrc.

You don't understand the differences between being employed and self employed, i.e. no paid holidays, no paid sick leave, no pay for admin time, paying for own transport/materials/equipment etc. You can't compare an employee rate with a self employed rate.

Of course! Why should they not pay tax? The government has said anyone earning over the personal allowance pays tax. I can’t see why she should be exempt? Can you?

How many hours a day do you think the average domestic cleaner works? In reality many will be well below the basic rate tax threshold anyway. Those who prefer cash are typically requesting it for entirely legitimate reasons. Anyone here who thinks house cleaners are living some glamorous tax free lifestyle are deluded. Have a word with yourselves.