Please help- moral dilemma

G_M

kinger101 wrote: »

Well, no evidence has been provided, particularly in the case of the alleged tax evasion.

1st sentence of 1st post?

I recently discovered that my friend (John) is tax evading and renting a house share with 7 people without a HMO license.

anselld

G_M wrote: »

1st sentence of 1st post?

So the OP lies awake at 3 am worrying about this "crime", but cannot subsequently be bothered to explain further how they arrived at this conclusive statement?

kinger101

Yes, but the rest of the post doesn't support tax avoidance. Both the consultancy business and letting business might be companies for example. Losses from one group company can be set off against profits of another.

G_M

Hey! None of us are criminal investigators. Or investigative journalists (I think).

All we can do is respond/make comments on the information we are given.

In this case, the OP said "my friend (John) is tax evading" so we respond/comment based on that.

Sure, the OP may be wrong. Or not understand enough about tax law to be qualified to reach that conclusion. Or have based his conclusion on false information. Or... or...

But he made a catagorical statement, and asked for moral guidance!

Thrugelmir

AdrianC wrote: »

If the business is a limited company, then he can't then just take the money out of the business without being taxed on it.

People do. Falsifying invoices is one method.

moneyistooshorttomention

kinger101 wrote: »

But back to the original post, if I had a friend who did this type of thing, I think the decent thing to do would be to confront them and make them see the error of their ways.

:rotfl::rotfl:Oh would that were so that it was possible to make someone see the error of their ways. I used to work on the principle that surely, if I explained clearly enough to someone why their actions were wrong, then they would stop them.

Maybe I'm just spectacularly bad at putting over sufficient logical reasons (be it to people, organisations, governments, etc) as to why they should see the error of their ways and do the decent thing???:cool:

On the other hand, I have rather come to the conclusion that people/companies/governments will deliberately blind and deafen themselves to hearing any arguments that go against what they want to do and proceed anyway. Even in those rare cases where they aren't deluding themselves and know very well and admit to themselves that what they plan on is wrong, they will still proceed with it anyway.

The sad truth seems to be that there are very few people/etc indeed who experience a blinding "On the Road to Damascus" flash and decide to turn moral overnight. I only wish I were wrong on that one....

Davesnave

G_M wrote: »

Hey! None of us are criminal investigators. Or investigative journalists (I think).

Nor are we moral arbiters.

I rather like the fact that the OP has had a full range of opinions, so they are roughly back where they started, except with a bit more information, or perhaps misinformation, depending on your particular moral stance.

Me, I've made false statements, paid people cash with no invoice, been creative with my tax returns and stolen pencils from work....so I've kept out of it.

In fact, I was never here. :A

moneyistooshorttomention

You'll be producing an essay for us explaining the concept of "enlightened self interest" will you Dave?:rotfl:

You know the basic premise, as I recall, of it makes sense to make sure that we all pay our taxes because we all require (many) of the services provided like the NHS for instance? It's in our own self-interest to be sure we have what we need when we need it.

I guess the other thing is the Example Effect (to coin my own phrase). I cite that I've long since lost count of the number of (usually total strangers) I have just automatically got on and helped if they came over ill in front of me. It's just an automatic reflex action to me to do so. Then, when I needed some minor medical help recently, I asked for and got it from a total stranger. You could say "I'd paid my bill previously". Another form of enlightened self-interest I guess....

bouicca21

I too have a moral dilemma. To what extent is it really right to report a suspicion (no evidence just conjecture) of tax evasion? My ex landlord was clearly employed and paying tax under PAYE. Given his general attitude, I doubt he was declaring the rental income. Do I report him or not? And given that I don't like him, does the suspicion of revenge destroy any moral ground that I might otherwise claim. Can narks really claim to be serving the communal good?

AdrianC

Thrugelmir wrote: »

People do. Falsifying invoices is one method.

Well, yes, there are a miscellany of fraudulent illegal ways to do so. Perhaps my implied "legitimate" should have been more explicit.

However, if you're going to do that, why put the money INTO the business in the first place? You're just complicating the disappearance of the money by putting in more traceable transactions.