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

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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.

I worked in an estate agent (only admin) and I remember the trades people with a 200k deposit but earning 30k per annum. They could only get a mortgage for a set amount x their salary so had to save a massive deposit. I always wondered why they didn’t go legit for a few years. Maybe they had to produce a lot of years or maybe it was easier to have 200k in savings.

Gosh same here in Ireland, really difficult getting someone to do something without paying in cash, DD has a girl who comes here to do her nails and it's cash only, she's always booked up so plenty of clients and I do see her advertising on FB. Same with my hairdresser cash only, she comes to the house so it can be anything from 100 - 300 euro. 2 of my sister's have cleaners and both have to pay in cash, they tell me that it's extremely difficult getting someone who takes bank transfers.

Or maybe everyone should just be paying what they should be paying. Not paying appropriate tax doesnt stop the welfare system.. Just passes the buck to someone esle who works just as hard. Why do you assume trades work harder than anyone esle?

I have people asking 'how much for cash?' answer is the same as if you pay by transfer or the card machine.

Mostly my work is just my time and expenses with some materials from time to time, paying cash into a business account cost £1.75 per £100! card machine cost 1.75% of transaction

It's.not.just the tax avoidance either. ExH gets a lot of his income cash in hand which means his barely has to pay any child maintenance. I work through illness and disability to fund my children's lives.

It's a kind of theft and I refuse to participate in it. I pay everyone by bank transfer

Registering for vat is a whole world of complication for the business owner, so I can see why people try to avoid that. Having said that, we had workmen do our extension and wanted us to pay cash. £45k in cash?!?! First of all, no. I work for the nhs and that’s just wrong in so many ways. Second, how the hell am I going to take £45k out of the bank without triggering some sort of investigation. Dodgy AF. We still went with them though as they gave the best price and even the building inspector admired their work when he checked it all off.

The price difference is roughly the VAT element

You aren't just cheating the government though. You may be cheating their kids.
We have a much tougher life because ExH dodges his proper contribution by earning cash in hand

I have to pay tax on everything I earn. And I am working through disability and chronic illness (yet it is too fluctuating to get benefits), so I think there's no excuse for others to shirk paying their share

Paying cash to trades or the cleaner doesn’t bother me. Even my osteopath asks to be paid in cash.

Yeah but tax isn’t being paid into the system

All tradespeople I have used recently have used bank transfer. Too big a sum to pay in cash tbh....

No because the VAT was more like £350

So your partner refuses to use cash full stop? That’s crazy!

People tend to want to keep their income low for tax but then wonder why they can’t get a mortgage when they can easily afford it

I was coming to say the same, you can get more tax out of people by having a lower tax system, that rewards entrepreneurs and tradesmen for taking the risk with their businesses.

Increase tax too much and you actually get lower tax revenues as people find it too much and start actively evading tax.

It's basic economics that there is a tax curve, as tax percentage increases tax revenue increases then it plateaus, then decreases

A friend makes money by share trading which is taxed by Capital Gains tax. In recent years that has increased from 20% to 24% and there are proposals to put it to 40%...if that happens he will move abroad to Malta or Cyprus as it is just too high to balance the risk of the share trading. (malta and cyprus both have very low CGT). Bear in mind that the money he uses is earned money which he has already paid tax on, and is being taxed again on.

There seems to be a complete demonisation of using cash to pay for goods and services. Cash is a perfectly normal and lawful means of payment and it’s extraordinary that everyone suddenly thinks it’s some sort of tax dodge every time.

And all the cash only nail bars and hairdressers that have sprung up! They are a pain in the backside too

I always think this is a tax dodging issue. Whilst I do use cash in shops on occasions, I would not be paying for cleaning/odd jobs/gardening etc in cash. I know of a very upmarket hairdresser who only takes cash. And a podiatrist. Its all for tax dodging purposes.

We had that. We got quotes for our extension, which cost well into 6 figures. One builder offered to do it, with no VAT; but he wanted us to pay him £10,000 per week in cash!

We wanted a proper contract, with stage payments; and can’t afford to be accused of money laundering! Banks can make a suspicious activity report, apart from anything else!

It used to annoy me, when clients moaned about how much tax they had to pay, then went on to complain about the state of A & E, when they needed to use it!

Starling bank has no fees (except for cash deposits!) and no charges for transactions in or out:

https://www.starlingbank.com/business-account/

I assume you'd have to set up a card machine separately though, so there may be other options that are easier if that's your major transaction source.

Recently, there seems to be a trend to think that cash is bad.

This is just not the case. It’s a legal form of payment and helps people with budgeting and managing money. Physically holding money helps assess a spend easier, then a click with the phone.

I get very grumpy with businesses who won’t accept cash. My children don’t have Go Henry or similar cards, as when reviewing them, there was a fee. My view was paying £30 a year for holding pocket money is an example of poor money management.

Not everyone asking for cash is trying to get out of paying tax. Of course there may be examples, but the takeaways and some of the businesses referred to, will be trying to avoid banking fees. It also makes payments out and to the self employed working for them easier.

There is a lot of regulation and hidden costs surrounding small businesses and time is precious. Using cash in a large business would be seen as a control flaw but in a small business things are different and for a business owner not trained in Excel, it may be easier to do their books with cash. It saves paying for an accounting payment service, which has a cost. You can and people do, still pay tax on cash receipts.

The UK pays a lot via debit and credit card, where as Europe and the rest of the world, continue to use cash more. Even the US cash is used for tipping.

I know it’s a different argument but I’d happily see the back of cash. Also a law like in France (i think) that makes large cash purchases illegal, wouldn’t stop the builders but would stop more of us.

I suppose it also means they avoid having to do a lot of tedious paperwork - raising an invoice, marking it in the books, showing it all on the bank reconciliation for the end of year accounts etc etc. They probably just can’t be arsed doing all this extra admin work for an hour’s cleaning pay. Not saying they’re right, just some reasons why they might do it.

Can’t say it bothers me, if they want cash I’ll pay cash. I just want whatever job done.

What they choose to do after that, is down to them.

Completely agree on cash. Disagree that it shouldn't be extra when doing bank transfer. VAT is tax paid by consumer, not the business. It is added to the cost of goods and services. The business simply collect it on behalf of the government so it makes perfect sense that good and service will cost more with VAT.