Tax dodging builder?

Also I wouldn't want to see your drive after you have grassed him up. Tradesmen can be proper dodgy people and will retaliate. Would take this as lesson learned and move on.

The problem is the government not putting in measures to reduce this type of thing. Everyone will seek an opportunity when it is there.

You are telling me you have never downloaded something when you shouldn't or never broken the speed limit?
 
Something like that I'd pay via credit/debit card, the facilities for this are easy enough for businesses to get hold of, or bank transfer. Go the official route with payment, if the driveway falls apart next week at least you have some comeback if the person claims they had nothing to do with it. Whilst you have a receipt it makes it harder to take things further if he claims he replaced a paving slab somewhere (I know for 4K)
 
Pudney said:
If VAT is included he needs to have given you a VAT invoice, no ifs or buts. He's blatantly evading VAT, which double costs you. One for paying VAT which highly likely isn't getting paid on to the government and secondly due to the increased cost to all taxpayers due to this hidden economy, which just so happens to be the biggest loss to HMRC rather than the likes of Amazon or Google.
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No joke, I bloody love it when the Accountant chaps on the forums get properly outraged. I feel like ... saluting or something?

e: Pudney is a fave but Kermit has a nice bite as well when provoked. Nice action.
 
Colonel_Klinck said:
You really can't take the **** with cash and avoiding tax these days. HMRC aren't idiots, they know how much money you spend, mortgage, how much your bills are, shopping etc and if you can't show where that money came from then you're ******. You also have the materials you bought, unless you got the person you are working for to buy them. HMRC expect you to take a bit but if you take the **** they'll come down on you like a tonne of bricks.
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^^^ This 100%
When we fit a kitchen, a customer will nearly always ask "how much for cash" when we are finished. My answer is always the same "it all goes in the bank, so i'd rather you just do a bank transfer while we pack the tools in the van"
The sort of tradesmen that ask for cash are the type that almost certainly have always worked in the "Black Economy" and therefore are already under the radar as far as HMRC is concerned.
If customers refused to pay cash for a job or didn't ask for cash discounts, the "Black Economy", wouldn't exist. Tax revenues would go through the roof, funding for our services would be at a realistic level and we wouldn't have a huge pool of unqualified foreign labour being funded by peeps paying cash.
 
Ergates said:
Shop him to HMRC. https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/TEH_IRF

He is almost certainly dodging his taxes and I'm willing to bet the workers he sent are here illegally and have no permits to work.

UK Public: "Waaah, our services are underfunded. The hospitals are slow and understaffed and there are no police"
2 seconds later
UK Public: "Oooh, discount for cash, yes please."
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°

Easier to blame it on others rather than look in the mirror!
 
Kermit said:
So what? Tax dodgers mean the rest of us pay more or theres less money for services or deficit goes up and we all moan about services not being funded as well as we'd wish.

.
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If you feel bad about it then you have two options.

#1 Go for the contractor who doesn't demand cash and will allow electronic payments, of course, his charges will likly be somewhat higher. But at the end of the day you will be reassured that you will be paying your fair share of tax/VAT/etc

#2 Go for the cheapest contractor as before (Who can only afford to be the cheapest because he will be a cash business) And send a guilt cheque of your own to the revenue to cover what you think the additional cost of the job to cover the net tax take should have been.

:p
 
pioneer2000 said:
Why should people that abide by the rules and pay tax appropriately not drop those that illegally don’t in it?
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You don't have any evidence that they're not paying tax.

You're making an assumption based on a suspicion .

I suspect my window cleaner, the guy who comes to clean the bins and the guy who occasionally does the garden might be at it as well but I'm not going to land them in it without proof.
 
Meths said:
You don't have any evidence that they're not paying tax.

You're making an assumption based on a suspicion .

I suspect my window cleaner, the guy who comes to clean the bins and the guy who occasionally does the garden might be at it as well but I'm not going to land them in it without proof.
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How are you landing them in it?
 
A lot of trades men do this. Some on bigger jobs ask for half cash and half via bank transfer.

For example, if you’re having a building job done which requires third parties such a skips, scaffolders etc they all prefer cash in hand. Even some merchants do, again its down to vat.

It’s a mess and morally wrong.

Still, no one really questions the big corporate companies do they?
 
Dis86 said:
How are you landing them in it?
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People are talking about reporting them to HMRC.

Even if everything is above board its going to be a right ball ache for them to prove it if they're generally taking cash payments.

I have to do a self assessment even though I get my wages through PAYE and that's a right pain so I'd dread to think what it's like for people who aren't meticulous record keepers and deal exclusively in cash.

For what is worth I'm not condoning tax avoidance here, I just think they're is a burden of proof that has to be satisfied before you go reporting someone.
 
Just some poorly thought out musings - surely there is a huge scope to offset VAT spent on materials for tradesmen? Is there really much saving to be made from acting improperly?

Perhaps the problem is that the material suppliers are not charging VAT?
 
Meths said:
Even if everything is above board its going to be a right ball ache for them to prove it if they're generally taking cash payments.

I have to do a self assessment even though I get my wages through PAYE and that's a right pain so I'd dread to think what it's like for people who aren't meticulous record keepers and deal exclusively in cash.
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If they are above board it won't be a ballache at all. They'll be making notes of the payments to ensure that the correct VAT is paid. It will only be a ballache if they are not paying tax.
 
Nitefly said:
Just some poorly thought out musings - surely there is a huge scope to offset VAT spent on materials for tradesmen? Is there really much saving to be made from acting improperly?

Perhaps the problem is that the material suppliers are not charging VAT?
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If you are VAT registered then there is no offset, you can claim back all the VAT on materials no matter how much VAT you collect from jobs.
 
Dis86 said:
How are you landing them in it?
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Because nobodies affairs would survive really close scrutiny.

And even if you were whiter than white, An investigation by the revenue would still be a massively stressful and disruptive situation that many people would never recover from.

The only one I can think of that would be worse would be facing allegations of Kiddy-diddling. It matters not how fully exonerated you might eventually be. The accusation alone will ruin you for life.

Vita said:
A lot of trades men do this. Some on bigger jobs ask for half cash and half via bank transfer.

For example, if you’re having a building job done which requires third parties such a skips, scaffolders etc they all prefer cash in hand. Even some merchants do, again its down to vat.

It’s a mess and morally wrong.
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Particularly with building work. The money trail is far more complex than a simple Client/Trader one.

There is a whole Russian dolls worth of multiple layers, each of whom will want to make their own arrangements.

Its hard enough working as a Mechanic. At least, for the most part, the only problem I face are the customers who try to wheedle for "Discounts for Cash"

But for building contractors it must be a bloody nightmare. Trying to be completely above board wont just mean that you wont get any work because you will be more expensive than anybody else. You wont be able to get any of the subcontractors to work for you either even if you do get a job!

:/
 
Em3bbs said:
If they are above board it won't be a ballache at all. They'll be making notes of the payments to ensure that the correct VAT is paid. It will only be a ballache if they are not paying tax.
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I think the guy who does our garden would struggle to work a pen tbh.
 
Meths said:
People are talking about reporting them to HMRC.

Even if everything is above board its going to be a right ball ache for them to prove it if they're generally taking cash payments.

I have to do a self assessment even though I get my wages through PAYE and that's a right pain so I'd dread to think what it's like for people who aren't meticulous record keepers and deal exclusively in cash.

For what is worth I'm not condoning tax avoidance here, I just think they're is a burden of proof that has to be satisfied before you go reporting someone.
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If they're do it everything right though it's not an issue. You're only screwing them over (rightfully) if they're not paying what they should be.
The burden of proof is the fact he wasn't willing to accept any other form of payment.
 
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