Trades people on the fiddle

[John Rumm]

Indeed... also what has how has the recipients tax affairs got anything to do with the person paying the bill?

Not only that, what are the alternatives? They can either take a cheque at a huge risk of not getting paid, or they can shell out hundreds a quarter to their bank for card payment facilities and a merchant account.

That is already the case here... or at least HMRC would have you believe. If you "give away" a service that you would normally derive income from, they still expect you to pay the tax on the notional value!

[soup]

"A huner' an' fifty quid with an invoice, a huner' cash."

[mike]

Putting aside the bit about "in order to avoid tax", how does Gauke think most tradesmen are paid? Cheques are dying on their feet, tradesmen don't carry card readers... presumably Gauke's butler gives the plumber a brace of pheasants and the bounder better be jolly pleased.

[tim.....]

Putting aside the bit about "in order to avoid tax", how does Gauke think most tradesmen are paid? Cheques are dying on their feet, tradesmen don't carry card readers... presumably Gauke's butler gives the plumber a brace of pheasants and the bounder better be jolly pleased.

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I understand that it's quite common for window cleaners to leave you the bill and expect you to pay it using internet banking.

Of course, with a regular customer the most you are going to lose is 10-20 quid before "not" working for them again.

I can see that this is not going to work if the bill is hundreds (or thousands - but then most aren't going to he using cash!).

tim

[ARWadsworth]

Sold?

Surely they just broke and you threw them away into the correct recyle bin as repair was uneconomical:-)

Possibly not that easy with a tractor:-(.

[Nightjar]

...

Same day credit transfer, which is how I pay my window cleaner and my gardener. Not that he actually said that paying in cash was morally wrong, only paying in cash in order to get a discount.

Colin Bignell

[Steve Firth]

That is indeed what happens to the majority of office equipment in my business. If the government wants to encourage recycling they can start by muzzling the VAT man and his desire to charge VAT on goods given away.

Nor with any vehicle.

[ARWadsworth]

I was quite surprised that the charity shop took my old work clothes:-)

Thank god they went straight to the ragman and were not put up for sale.

[Tim Streater]

BACS transfer. Thass how I do it whenever possible.

Were you always this much of a snob?

[critcher]

god almighty.......................... none of you use hospitals, you all pay for your medical aid ? any of you ever had a receipt of a chinese or any take away, do they pay their taxes based on what they take? people are fiddling their tax and they still expect to get everything for nothing.don't complain about people getting benefits while most of you don't even contribute to the tax and N.I. that pays for it.

[mike]

Probably just as well you set the x-no-archive or people would see you replied to what you wanted to read rather than what was actually written.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Several years ago when I worked for a TV production company (on PAYE) in their studios, they sort of changed the rules and required studio staff to work on outside broadcasts. As part of the deal they supplied good quality waterproof (and weatherproof) protective clothing. The IR considered it a perk and wanted to tax us on it. Saying it could also be used for leisure use. In the company colour with the company logo all over it? Nor was it fashionable outdoor gear like North Face or whatever - just practical.

[Steve Firth]

They're quite keen on mine, apparently I am "a popular size".

Heh - I once decided to give away several printers and assorted software packages. My accountant warned me that I could be required to pay VAT on the value if the goods but would pay nothing if I dropped them in a skip.

[Andrew May]

OMG I paid cash in Tesco yesterday. What a morally reprehensible thing to do. I should be ashamed of myself.

[Nemo]

.. and, of course, points the finger at Tesco as a tax-avoiding immoral parasite for accepting. Errrm, not sure whether that's sarcasm or fact.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Sometimes I wonder if you're real. Even if income tax was 5p in the pound, plenty would try and avoid paying it.

Taxes on consumption etc were the first form of taxes. They didn't work well - just encouraged smuggling.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Which is why we have a customs and excise department.

Actually consumptioon taxes are relatively NEW.

Land taxes are the oldest

[Steve Firth]

That sort of stupidity used to hit companies I worked for all the time when I was PAYE. We had free coffee at one place and IR decided it was "a taxable perk" but advised the company that drinks machines dispensing coffee were not taxable. They changed to coffee machines that gave a free coffee if you put your company ID card in a slot. Within a year that was declared a taxable perk.

We had in one place a shortage of women workers - no child care available in the area. The company proposed to have a crèche on site. That was declared a taxable perk.

At one place workers had to provide their own work clothing and tools of the trade. I tried to offset this against tax. I then got the Alice in Wonderland conversation with the tax woman. She said none of this stuff was essential for my job. I pointed out that it was, and I was in a position to know. She then explained that if it was essential the company would provide it and if they did not then it was not essential.

[Lobster]

Where does that stuff come from?

As a freelancer I often work in the offices of many different companies locally, and have done so for years (and used to work PAYE for one of them for years before that); I think in every case there's an employee's kitchen with tubs of Nescafe and Typhoo for the free, ad-lib use of employees.

Surely not different rules in different places?

David

[Huge]

So you've never heard of the Laffer curve?

And taxes on income are working *so* well.