cash in hand payments - morally wrong?

The_White_Horse

if someone says the price is £100 or £80 for cash because i won't charge tax, that is not my concern as the buyer. it is for the supplier to account for tax. if he does or doesn't is of no concern to me.

my only concern is getting it cheaper.

grizzly1911

The_White_Horse wrote: »

if someone says the price is £100 or £80 for cash because i won't charge tax, that is not my concern as the buyer. it is for the supplier to account for tax. if he does or doesn't is of no concern to me.

my only concern is getting it cheaper.

Why do people buy off auction/marketplace sites?

PasturesNew

There is a LOT of tax on jobs done.

Take a fairly standard bill of £120 for something to be fixed in the house, where £50 is parts, £50 is labour and £20 is VAT.

If you assume that the worker is in the higher rate tax bracket, then of their £50 they'll be paying 50% in Tax/NI, so that's £25. Ignoring detailed breakdowns of the parts bill, about £41 is parts and £9 VAT.

So, on a bill of £120 to have a leaky tap replaced, you're directly and indirectly forking out:
£29 VAT
£25 Tax/NI
===
£59

That's half of all you've spent whistling its way to the Govt.... no doubt so they can then fly first class to a posh hotel for a meeting....

Meanwhile, how long does it take somebody to [a] earn enough to have £120 after tax to pay the bill? earn enough to have enough left over after they've paid their more important bills to be able to have saved up £120 to be able to afford it?

And if it's not a leaking tap... but the cistern on your one loo that goes kaput.....

Cash it is then....

PasturesNew

the_white_horse wrote: »

if someone says the price is £100 or £80 for cash because i won't charge tax, that is not my concern as the buyer. It is for the supplier to account for tax. If he does or doesn't is of no concern to me.

My only concern is getting it cheaper.

+1

---

ukcarper

PasturesNew wrote: »

There is a LOT of tax on jobs done.

Take a fairly standard bill of £120 for something to be fixed in the house, where £50 is parts, £50 is labour and £20 is VAT.

If you assume that the worker is in the higher rate tax bracket, then of their £50 they'll be paying 50% in Tax/NI, so that's £25. Ignoring detailed breakdowns of the parts bill, about £41 is parts and £9 VAT.

So, on a bill of £120 to have a leaky tap replaced, you're directly and indirectly forking out:
£29 VAT
£25 Tax/NI
===
£59

That's half of all you've spent whistling its way to the Govt.... no doubt so they can then fly first class to a posh hotel for a meeting....

Meanwhile, how long does it take somebody to [a] earn enough to have £120 after tax to pay the bill? earn enough to have enough left over after they've paid their more important bills to be able to have saved up £120 to be able to afford it?

And if it's not a leaking tap... but the cistern on your one loo that goes kaput.....

Cash it is then....

i bet you would be hard pressed to find a VAT registered self employed tradsmen paying 40% tax.

Torry_Quine

I have paid cash to tradesmen but that doesn't mean I am in any way responsible as it's up to them how they organise their tax affairs. I still get receipts and they are VAT registered so my conscience is clear.

Graham_Devon

I wish the coalition would stop commiting these sorts of stupid errors, I really do.

I heard on the news today that Labour, on the back of the celebrity tax dodging, were about to go to town on cash payments, and that the tories are not cracking down.

So the coalition come out, hook line and sinker, and insult the nation to get in before Labour and suggest cash payments are morally wrong. All at the same time that we hear endless stories about the rich taking huge bonuses and making sure they are tax free.

The tories have been caught well and truly here. Makes them look stupid, and quite rightly, annoys people at a time like now when the banks are and rich are seemingly untouchable. To tell the nation it's morally wrong to save a few quid buy paying, or being paid cash in hand for a small job is utterly moronic.

Why on earth they didn't let labour stitch themselves up on this one I have no idea. Too much political war at the moment, can't see the wood for the trees. Labours relentless attacking (it's seems literally anything is attacked, even when theres nothing to attack, the money spent on the item is attacked instead) seems to be winning the day at the moment.

SteveV2

Very rarely I do private jobs.

I always offer 2 prices. A cash price and that price + 20% if paying by cheque.

Not had a cheque yet! But we are only taking of maybe a couple of jobs a year.

SteveV2

Also, what's really morally wrong is the expenses these MPs got away with for years and still do no doubt.

coastline

Within the last few days many people will have handed cash over the counter without thinking...and probably done it for years...
Barbers...Pub...Newsagent...corner shop...off-license etc....and not a receipt in sight...who knows whats happening..
Millions of folk wouldn't get improvement work done at home if it wasn't for a friend or a recommendation from someone...
The minister on Newsnight didn't really have to go into a detailed reply on cash work as he was there to report on tax avoidance schemes...but he did so maybe he was diverting the issue a bit..