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.

£21 an hour is not low paid. That’s over £40k gross a year full time. Why should she not pay tax ?

Yes, but the average self employed domestic cleaner is not working anything like full time. Why can’t they be paid cash? There are numerous legitimate reasons why people prefer cash - read the thread.

What difference does that make?
As long as they're paying their taxes and keeping their books they'll be fine. If they're not, then no sympathy from me.

Ik maybe it’s just this thread, but those posts are full on.

£21 an hour x 37.5 (full time) is £40,900 a year.

How many domestic self-employed cleaners do you know who manage to work 37.5hrs? Come on, use some common sense.

I know lots of people who are very comfortable paying cash in hand.

Shamefully, I had not thought of that. Will double down on my stance, thank you for stating it.

And those women who do it to protect their money from financially controlling partners. Screw them I guess.

Even if they work 80% of the time, it’s still over £32k. So why shouldn’t they pay tax?

And how do you know they’re not paying tax? I can’t be bother to repeat all of the myriad reasons why some people prefer cash.

This is awful - I have had a business account with monzo for 4 years and never been charged; do check them out!

Because controlling partners are famously unable to find or demand cash...
What about all the women on PAYE who cant afford to leave their abusive partners because they have to pay tax? Screw them i guess.

I think that’s the best “what aboutery” I’ve seen in months 😆

Monzo! Just double checked in case I've been paying all these years 😆 but nope - free!

100% agree with you. I am freelance too. Everything goes through the books. Tax paid on everything. I bet these people still want roads fit to drive down, schools fit to educate their children and NHS free on tap from birth to death. Just want other workers to fund it.

One of those few humour moments in all the ridiculousness that was Covid was the fact furlough was paid on taxed income…

Card fees can be very cheap if people shop around.

And yet the government still managed to lose £10.9 billion of our money to fraudsters. All those damn cleaners….

But all the council grants and the bounce back loans weren't contingent on declared income. The whole support was an utter farce.

This.

Another poster who doesn’t understand the difference between hourly pay and hourly business service charges.

I'm not saying everyone self employed is tax dodging. Also, Bank Transfer is not cash in hand by any means. But any business such as hairdressing, podiatry in etc that takes cash only in this day and age is certainly behind the times.

And did they not ever go to school? Or visit a GP?

Keeping cash going can be very helpful. Since banks are (nearly all) shut, a lot of people prefer to use cash to avoid scams, and there's a lot of people who find they budget better when they literally hold their cash. When you give your kids money to buy things, or pick up your take out, cash is better.
And when the shop had a problem and could only take cash, it was funny how my anti cash friends were so grateful I could help them out.