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.

Being on the vat threshold doesn't mean you earn lots it just means you turnover lots? I know someone who has a small business employing a couple members of staff who had to go vat registered a couple years ago due to higher turnover, but in fact she barely earns minimum wage (& definitely doesn't always even pay herself that)....

Although to add to the thread, I hate cash only also. Not helped by the distinct lack of cash machines on our high Street...!

I think the cleaner the small amount is going to get a lot taken off with bank charges so I can see her point. it's not a lot of money to absorb the charges..

If he was knocking £200 for you paying cash surely you would be paying less, not more?

I am self employed. If someone asks to pay in cash I will accept it, but every penny gets declared. It's always handy to have some cash around, but we are not all dodgy.

I've heard people make the arguement that they don't use public services at all so don't see why they should pay tax

anyone would be hard pressed not to use pavements, street lights, roads, or rubbish collections

I’m the same. How can we have a functioning society without taxation? It’s a necessary evil. We can’t have a European-style social democracy with US levels of taxation.
I know people paying cash for a significant amount of weekly work, every week. No NI getting paid either. The system is fucked and they seem to have no conscience about it. They are actually quite proud of how clever they are being.

I honestly don’t care as long as I get a receipt /invoice for the work. I pay my window cleaner & recently a plumber in cash. I’m not the arbiter of morality.

asking for cash doesn't mean someone's not paying tax. I can mean they can pay for materials in cash, or pay another trade in cash. I wouldn't just to the conclusion that they aren't paying tax

Can’t they just as easily pay those by card or bank transfer? I don’t understand why anyone would be cash only nowadays. The only reason for most people is to avoid a paper trial surely? I can understand older people who aren’t good with technology and have done things forever with just cash but realistically that type of person is likely close to retirement or already retired.

Same here. I’ve never had anyone ask for cash. It would fuck up all our insurances for a start.

Yes however the cash option brings his profit down 1,800 so if he’s a limited company reduces corporation tax.

I know it’s turnover not profit.

that’s the point though- cash encourages much lower rates that price other people who contribute to society out of the market.

my example was a man and van business- not materials or anything needed on a job by job basis. But irrespective, he’s making his ‘problem’ my problem by asking me to ‘help’ him. I have my own business problems to solve- I do quotes for clients all the time, some jobs I win, some I don’t, but I would never pass my problems onto them.

Avoiding declaring turnover to avoid the VAT threshold is avoiding paying tax that they should be.

I totally agree. And I report each and every one of them to HMRC, because if they're operating legitimately they have nothing to worry about.
www.gov.uk/report-tax-fraud

That's what happens when people are over-taxed. They find ways to avoid it.

I use more cash now than I have done for years. Plumber, tree surgeon, even my hair salon now only takes cash although he does it to avoid bank charges. And the plumber declares up to just below the VAT limit to avoid the paperwork.

People are struggling and resent the fact they work 40 hour weeks while others sit on their bums and play the system. The govt may be fools but plenty of people are not.

I have always worked PAYE, paying higher rate tax but I don't blame them.

How do they avoid business rates if they’re running a business in the high streets?
I think there are more to nail bars than meets the eye anyway.

What bank charges would she be paying?

Totally agree.

Small businesses and sole traders make up 62% of the total unpaid tax in the UK, despite being a much smaller percentage of the total tax (~20%).
(Granted, this also includes tax mistakenly not paid)

YANBU

Our lovely cleaner and any other tradesperson we use such as the man who services our boiler ask for bank transfers.

Business bank accounts charge for money going in (and money going out)

I don't think takeaways and other shops that say they prefer or only accept cash are necessarily seeking to cheat their taxes.

Often, they're just trying to avoid unnecessary bank fees - so they can pay themselves/wages direct from income rather than having to bank it first and lose a chunk before they access it again.

Of course, some of them may well be cheating on their tax as well; but it's far from a given. After all, whilst a tradie can claim that they've worked much less than they actually have, it would be much harder to hide and lie when everybody can clearly see your constant stream of customers in your high street premises.

Is this based on experience and if so of which bank, as mine charged for neither on my business account?

They're money laundering and a front for organised crime.

OP isn't being unreasonable, I refuse to pay cash to any trader. It shouldn't just be some of us paying tax and the cleaner may well be a benefits chest.

Yes, personal experience. I use Royal Bank of Scotland. The first 2 years of business bank were free but they charge after that. As a small business I also get charged for change from the bank (fair enough) which is why I prefer card payments.

I only pay a small monthly fee. If i wanted to deposit cash or make international transfers that would be chargeable. I assumed that was fairly standard.

This. A system that disincentivises honesty is going to get dishonesty.

If you’re on the threshold why on earth would you risk going over it? Loose a decent percentage of your income or raise your prices and loose past customers, or in reality probably both. If the system had a sliding scale of VAT owed or a timescale to pay which allowed contractors to gradually raise their prices then you’d get a lot less of this.

We had the opposite situation when my husband was due to go over the £100k threshold and we’d loose 20k in free childcare hours. So obviously he stayed on £99 until his income went to £120. The system puts you over a barrel.

As an employee I pay my taxes but I also enjoy the benefits of sick pay, paid leave, a HR department and so on.

Some posts in this thread smack of ‘I don’t like that manual workers might earn a decent wage’