Would you be willing to pay a workman in cash

jalima you have a record of payment if you pay by BACS. The amount and the name of the recipient appears in your bank statement, unlike a cheque which just appears as the cheque number.
Yes, I have done that janea
DH likes old-fashioned cheques though - however, he did once sign a very large cheque to a workwoman (is that a word?) and it was referred back because he used my account by mistake and the bank did look at the signature that time and realised it was not mine. I then paid her by BACS.

I paid the window cleaner with cash this morning.

If it was for work costing upto £1000 and they had done a good job and I was paying after completion wouldn't have a problem especially if I was avoiding paying VAT I would be pleased ?

More than £1 in every £5 which is collected by the Government comes from Value Added Tax.

One could argue that the rate of VAT is too high and should be reduced.
However, if you avoid paying it then you really can't grumble about the rich who avoid paying tax, government services being reduced etc.

We're having some work done and the guy made it clear he isn't vat registered so we paid cash. About one thousand.

You can be non vat registered and be paid by BACs. What he really means is that he’s not paying vat, and probably not the full amount of tax and NI - Oh well, there’s plenty of other mugs who will

You don't have to be VAT registered if the turnover is less than about £85,000 (variable according to type of business) but he should have a bank account.

I doubt my window cleaner's turnover is £85,000 so he won't need to be VAT registered and his income tax and NI is not my responsibility, it's on his own conscience.

re windowcleaning - many years ago I was working with young tearaways who were creating problems in school trying to plan for their future. I asked a teenage girl how she was going to earn a living with her school record.
She said - windowcleaning - you take the cash and don't have to pay tax. She was an athletic girl and probably did well.

I'm pretty shocked that anyone could post "wouldn't have a problem especially if I was avoiding paying VAT I would be pleased ?"

Does that mean you would be pleased to go without the public services funded by VAT nicenanny?

There’s a difference between paying in cash when it’s relatively normal for the type of business - lots of small value transactions - and doing it for a large amount when it’s clear really what the reason must be. That seems like an act of deliberate collusion and that clearly makes some of us uncomfortable.

varian you must lead a very sheltered life if you are shocked by that.

At a guess I would say not sheltered but conscientious and civic minded.

Actually nicenanny I’ve been more than shocked at some of your posts elsewhere on GN and am more than pleased to be ‘sheltered’ from some of those attitudes

You must have lead a sheltered life as well then that's all I can say.

Think some posters need to get out in the real world.

Hahaha nicenanny some of us on GN live in the ‘real world’ AND simultaneously retain a set of moral principles - but there you go.

I'm speechless!
(for once)

I’m another mug who believes in paying taxes in the hope that we all might enjoy better public services.

Notnicenanny you don’t avoid paying VAT by paying tradesmen cash.
You pay the price for the job.
They pay the VAT.
The price for the job might be lower because they are not VAT registered, but presumably the threshold is set at £85K to encourage small businesses & give them a competitive edge and that’s a good thing.
Paying cash simply allows them not to declare their income and avoid income tax, and VAT if they’re registered, but a company that’s large enough to be VAT registered probably is going to be above board anyway.
Perhaps customers who collude in tax avoidance should be prosecuted along with the tax dodging businesses.

Good idea jane.
I expect anyone who should be paying either income tax or vat to meet their obligations as I 've met mine.
If you knowingly avoid doing so it's colluding in fraud as far as I 'm concerned.
Unpleasant and cynical comments about living in the real world while avoiding your dues.
Another example of nicenanny's pseudonym being a misnomer.

Off topic slightly I know, but when I lived in France I was astonished when my neighbour wrote a cheque to pay for her small slab of cheese in the market.

Rather like a conversation we had today when I said I use contactless payments for small amounts when previously I used cash, chip and pin only for larger amounts.
I certainly use cash frequently, unlike DGD who often sallies forth with her card but no cash at all!

mcem a friend used contactless payments a few times over a couple of days and was astonished to find that the bank had put a stop on his card.

the Inland Revenue know a hell of a lot about people and their spending, so its highly unlikely anybody is on the make.

oldbatty <faints>. Give me your address and I’ll send you a unicorn in your preferred colour. You are joking aren’t you?

I have lived in the "real world" for seventy-odd years, and no, I have not led a particularly sheltered life. I have met many criminals and other dishonest people, but few of them are so shameless as to boast about their immorality.

I don't know how many of you might remember an ultra wealthy American who owned hotels. I think her name was Leona Helmsley. She once said "only the little people pay taxes"!! and that was her reputation destroyed. Honest folk were just appalled.

Fast forward to 2016 when in a televised debate Donald Trump was accused of dodging his taxes. Hie respose was "that makes me smart!"

I thought "that's him finished - honest Americans won't stand for that - they will turn away from him as the second Leona Helmsley" - how wrong was I/ It seems we are now living in a world which is not just post-truth but utterley shameless.

www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=uBZR1-onmAo