MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you pay Brian the Builder in cash?

thisisace

Have to say I'm surprised at how many people are willing to be dishonest. :sad:

moochershopper wrote: »

:A I would definately pay cash. As has been said before this government takes too much of our hard earned cash and wastes it, why give them any more to use on useless and ill thought out projects.

The tax money has to come from somewhere. If you're dodging from paying your share, the rest of us have to pay extra in the long run, don't we ?

sammyg1971

:T i am so fed up with doing the rifht thing and having nothing to show for it....watching those who dont earn around me doing every fiddle and fraud in the book...so yes....i am the point where i would...its his vat not mine..
tes yes ...i am rebelling....scared to though:eek:

inmypocketnottheirs

The correct definition of VAT is Vicious Added Tax, and should at all opportunities be avoided.

ianfabris

Maybe I've been unlucky, but I've never yet seen a 'cash in hand' job completed properly without the need for remedial action . . . and the original builder/plumber/whoever is always unable to reach their phone.

Written receipt with VAT everytime, otherwise alarm bells ring

rdsoftware

I wouldn't pay in advance (cash or cheque), but I would be quite happy to pay cash after the work was completed.
There's no reason why you wouldn't get all the proper receipts and guarantees that you would get paying by cheque. I paid for my house rewiring in cash, and I still got proper receipts and the official installation certificates that they are required to provide these days, and the same with my double glazing.
As far as I'm concerned I'm using money on which I have already paid tax. I always ask for a cash price, what they do to offer me that cash price is their business not mine.

springheeledjack

of course I would agree to the £1200, even if I only gave the difference to a charity, the 'tax stranglehold' that this country suffers from boarders on offensive.

Thrifty-saver

Yes, I would pay the reduced amount in cash to Brian, as he probably overcharged in the first place & as at present everyone is strapped for cash, except the Government, why should you both not save your hard-earned money?

karlcw68

Whether or not Brian wants to declare the income and VAT/tax liability is entirely up to him. It's his legal responsibility to tell HMRC about his earnings and tax liabilities. You're not obliged to tell the authorities about his intent, especially since he could easily deny any such thing. However, HMRC does has an anonymous whistle blowing number if you felt so strongly about it.

Personally, I would pay him the reduced amount but ensure that I got a proper receipt. If he told me that he was doing it to save tax then I would remind him that it's his decision and not mine and that I don't want to know what he does with his money.

Karl
www.vatexchange.co.uk

englishmac

gavsmillie wrote: »

This throws up the age-old dilemma of integrity ! Most poeple, not all, have a right/wrong response to these type of questions. It is the way we are brought up etc etc. However I have always believed that certain people should set examples especially those in power. If they pay their taxes correctly then so should I !

Unfortunatly last year both the ousted PM and the other party leader both claimed back their TV licences under some parlimentary ruling !!! These people earn a lot of money yet they can't afford to pay their TV licence without having to claim it back !!!

In answer to the question I would take the offer given it was for a product that I did not require follow up at a later date. In that case I would look for some sort of guarantee. Britain has long being the rip-off country with the ususal excuse of transport and other excuses. Now the power is with the people and not with the banking, fuel and other manafacutures who have been ripping us off for years !! Honda's £12.5 billion profit last year - this year asking us to support them !! What happend the profit ! What happended to future forecasting ! Do they not read Martins' advice on 6 month emergency funds !!

Seems like I have gone off on a tangent here but this is why people do pay for work without VAT !! If you lead by example and with a fair price I will gladly pay my VAT for work done !!

Right soap box away and a happy Hogmanay to all !

It is always the average worker that gets hit, the very person who generates the bulk of the country's capacity to collect taxes. I'd take his hand off for it and it isn't lack of morals or integrity. It is fairness to myself. Add on Tony Blair being let off with (illegally!!) taking the train without buying a ticket, reports of many thousands of families drawing £30k+ in benefits for doing nothing other than pleasing themselves how many kids they have to fund their freebie lifestyle, and now the PM giving $10m of our hard earned cash in aid to Gaza when frankly we're going to be in great need ourselves in the coming months. Those who take the so called moral high ground need to have a rethink - you are being taken for mugs. We will always be fleeced for more and more tax; the only difference is the level of waste depending on the current economic climate at the time.

StillSavingMoney

I think we all have a responsibility to pay our taxes and not to assist others to evade paying their tax. If no-one paid their taxes who would pay for the schools, hospitals, police etc.? When we talk about "paying the taxman", the "taxman" is actually the public purse out of which everything is paid for - it is our money. Whilst we sometimes might not agree with how our (elected) Government spends our taxes, I don't think we can say that, just because we don't agree with some of the Government's policies, we're going to actively assist tax evasion. If you're not self-employed i.e. on a wage, then you have to pay your taxes through your pay packet. Why should the self-employed be any different and escape paying tax? We not only have a moral duty not to assist tax evasion, I'm pretty sure we have a legal duty as in the VAT Act 1994; we can't just say "what he does with my money isn't my problem". If you called an ambulance to your house in an emergency and it was 10 minutes too late due to lack of funds (i.e. tax receipts) how would you feel then?