Tax evasion, small business

[anyname123]

Hello, I know a chap who runs a small(ish) company who does loads of under counter cash jobs. He has no qualms about bragging about this, and it makes my blood boil as I'd love an extra few hundred quid a month from not paying tax and NI, but obviously if we all did this the bloody country would collapse. Would I be a complete bitch to report him? And if so what would happen? I can't work out if I'm just bitter and jealous about all the stuff his family gets due to his skullduggery, or if I'm genuinely being ethical / moral in my wish to report him. Wwyd?

Unless you have pertinent details, actual facts and non-compliant evidence I doubt Hmrc would be interested in a small-ish company.

Remember tax returns are done once a year only, so income from now wouldn't need to be reported until January 31st 2018 so all might not be as it seems to you.

Fwiw I agree that tax dodging is shit. But it happens a lot and Hmrc tend to concentrate their investigations on certain areas of (deemed) high risk businesses rather than relying on joe-public to dob in people who don't report all their taxable income iyswim.

What is this bloke doing that makes you think he is evading tax?
It isn't illegal to be paid by cash, our company is paid for several services by cash, as that's what people pay.
If he isn't paying tax and insurance he will be found out pretty quickly.
Could he not earn enough to pay these, I used to pay NI voluntary as didn't earn enough.

Thanks for replies. He is quite open about the fact that some money goes "through the business", but that occasionally he gets offered cash for discount, we are talking bills that I guess would be 2/3k, which he then sees as free money as it doesn't go through the books. So whilst I totally see what you mean about tax return dates etc I am really cofident that the tax man doesn't get to know about some of the income iyswim

What is this bloke doing that makes you think he is evading tax?

Gilly, normally on these types of thread I'd agree with you about jumping to conclusions but I think where OP said

who does loads of under counter cash jobs. He has no qualms about bragging about this

probably answers that question Although tbf even if he is bragging of tax evasion (rather than avoidance) it doesn't mean he is actually doing it.

He won't be the first or last to do it frankly.
It gets right on my nerves that some people do it but I am never sure if I would inform on them.
I am friends with a tax inspector and she said that hmrc concentrate on different services each quarter for investigation plumbers one quater, probate the next etc etc so I always hope it catches up with them at some point.

We have a customer who is a investigator and she thinks that eventually they get greedy or complacent nd that's when they are caught.
She said that most tax assessors of the past were forced into inspector jobs and there are far more now than before.

I too have no patience for them, sometimes my dh is paid in cash by somebody not wanting to put the whole interaction through their books. He/we say tough and declare it as earnings and the person as the payee.
If they want to fraud its up to them but we won't lie for them.

Yes, report him. If other people have also reported him, then sooner or later it will get noticed by HMRC and he'll get some kind of enquiry/investigation.

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-tax-evasion

Highly unlikely that HMRC would bother investigating if only one person reported him, but if he's telling others what he's up to, then some of those will have reported him too.

If it turns out that he's lying and is just making out he's evading for bravado or attention seeking (yes, some people do it!), then if he gets an enquiry, then it's his own stupid fault.

The other point is that his customers offering cash for a discount are just as morally responsible for his tax evasion, so if a customer genuinely thinks the business is going to evade tax, they should walk away and not be party to the tax evasion just to get a discount!