Is this tax fraud...?

spoilt_BUT_appreciate_it

Hi everyone...

A while back a lady was negligent in her driving and caused damage to my car whilst I was legitimately parked at the side of the road. She was insistent that she did not want to go through her insurance company and she would pay for the damage herself...

I got a quote for the damage caused and she gave me a cheque like she said she would....

She is now pestering me, to get an invoice for the work done to my car addressed to her husband's business (he owns a restaurant), so she can claim it from the business....

I can only assume that they want to say this expenditure is a business expense so it will lessen their tax bill or something...

Is this tax fraud / tax evasion ?? or something else....

It just seems a bit dodgy to me that it can be claimed of a business when it has nothing to do with them at all......
If I give them an invoice like they want will it make me a part of this fraud??

Any advice greatly appreciated.....

peediedj

cant see it being a fraud,maybe the car she did yhou with was a buisness car??

fengirl_2

It is possible that the vehicle is owned through the husbands business in which she is also a partner. If not, then this is possibly tax evasion, but you will not be a party to it if you have been asked to produce an invoice in the name of the business as an innocent party.
Similar thing happened to me when my son damaged the tail light of a taxi and, when I agreed to pay for it, the taxi driver charged me VAT on the repair, even though he was not VAT registered. I paid the bill without the VAT and reported him to HMRC.

spoilt_BUT_appreciate_it

I don't think it's a business car - I sort of know these people vaguely....
It was outside my child's school - so had nothing to do with work....

chappers

Having the invoice written out in the husbands company name is in itself not illeagal if the business paid for the repair, However whether it is an allowable expense against his business tunover is another matter and I would have thought not.
For three possible reasons
1. His wife may not be anything to do with his business
2.The car is probably not a company vehicle
and most importantly
3.HMRC will say this should not have been paid out from the company but should have been claimed through the insurance.

spoilt_BUT_appreciate_it

Thanks chappers.....
Those 3 points you make are excellent.....

flower7

Maybe the business did pay for it and every penny has to be accounted for even if they do not claim the vat back.

Maybe she wants written proof that she has paid for the damages so you cannot claim again later? I'm not saying you would do this but maybe that is what her husband might be thinking.

MarkyMarkD

fengirl wrote: »

Similar thing happened to me when my son damaged the tail light of a taxi and, when I agreed to pay for it, the taxi driver charged me VAT on the repair, even though he was not VAT registered. I paid the bill without the VAT and reported him to HMRC.

Your point here doesn't seem to make sense.

If the taxi driver was not VAT registered, he would pay (say) £50+VAT = £58.75 for the repair. You'd then have to pay him £58.75.

If he was VAT registered, he would pay £50+VAT and reclaim the VAT. But then when he charged the £50 on to you, he'd have to charge you the VAT so you'd end up paying £58.75.

Either way, it costs you the VAT-inclusive amount.

The only scenario where this isn't true is if he is doing the repair himself, when obviously there's no VAT for him to add on.

djohn2002uk

spoilt_BUT_appreciate_it wrote: »

I got a quote for the damage caused and she gave me a cheque like she said she would....
She is now pestering me, to get an invoice for the work done to my car addressed to her husband's business (he owns a restaurant), so she can claim it from the business....
I can only assume that they want to say this expenditure is a business expense so it will lessen their tax bill or something...
Is this tax fraud / tax evasion ?? or something else....

I think you are out of order here.
She paid you in good faith and is now asking you to repay her with an invoice so you should do the right thing and supply it.
It really is none of your business whether she is going to claim anything through the business or not.
Make the invoice out to whoevers account the cheque came from, if it was the business so be it, if it was the wife then make it out to her, either way you're not involved. But do the honourable thing and supply it.

chappers

The OP is a private individual from what I can see and does not need to invoice the person that hit her car, I'm sure there is no problem passing on an invoice from the garage as proof of payment, but she has no reason to get it made out to the womans husband, unless his business made direct payment to the garage, then I would agree that it's up to him if he wants to try and claim it back through his business.
I think the woman just made her cheque out to the OP.

fengirl_2

markyMark - yes he did do the repair himself - as an ex HMIT I do know the dodges!