Tangled Metal wrote:I met a mechanic like that. Got called in once but HMRC were too trusting so his story wasn't checked. Money stashed all over to hide it apparently.
An MD of a SME and fellow club mate was pontificating about how easy it was too "avoid" tax when he looked up at the new member the other side of the large bar table. A sudden thought struck his mind and he went quiet. The next thing he said was to ask what the new guy did for a living.
Can you guess what the newbie's answer was? Tax inspector!!! White face matched the white hair of the MD until the HMRC guy explained it wasn't his area and they don't shoot in their own backyard anyway. Needless to say the MD never discussed tax arrangements ever again. I don't think anyone did.
TBF to the new guy, he was a decent guy who, like most police friends, turned a blind eye to things among friends that should be in his remit to act on. Indeed I reckon he was a little bit of a poacher with his own finances. Nobody's fully honest these days I reckon.
And that's something many dislike about the police force - they let their friends get away with committing crimes. It's corruption.
Same with HMRC tax inspectors too. There's corruption in public sector jobs in many areas that people are not aware of or just don't see even when it's in their face. I have learnt not to be so naive as believe people are basically honest. At work I'm considered more honest than most but I heard a director telling someone that "he doesn't lie, but if he did it would be for the good of the company." I didn't know how to take that.
I have several acquaintances. Self employed who do their level best not to pay tax, the daft thing is with proper accountancy they could probably earn more and pay tax.
tact: Contact peetee Re: HMRC and Air BNB to collude Unread postby peetee » 10 Oct 2020, 9:49pm
About 15 years ago I had a conversation with a council-employed plumber who took on private work too. I smelt a rat as we stood in the kitchen of his rented council house and he boasted that the previous year he had earned £80k.
A council plumber will earning £24000 pa.This means the plumber earns £560000 pa in his spare time-thats about £1100 per week.I think he was winding you up.Why did you mention a council house -seems to be irrelevant?
peetee wrote:About 15 years ago I had a conversation with a council-employed plumber who took on private work too. I smelt a rat as we stood in the kitchen of his rented council house and he boasted that the previous year he had earned £80k.
The point is all this tax evasion has to be made up somehow and the somehow is PAYE.
Not sure what you mean by ‘made up’ but in my post I was implying that had he declared his private work to HMRC this would have been passed on to the admin of the Council in the way of a different tax bracket and they would realise he was not eligible for housing.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
peetee wrote:About 15 years ago I had a conversation with a council-employed plumber who took on private work too. I smelt a rat as we stood in the kitchen of his rented council house and he boasted that the previous year he had earned £80k.
The point is all this tax evasion has to be made up somehow and the somehow is PAYE.
Not sure what you mean by ‘made up’ but in my post I was implying that had he declared his private work to HMRC this would have been passed on to the admin of the Council in the way of a different tax bracket and they would realise he was not eligible for housing.
Council tenancies are not lost on the basis a person has a high income. The point is people fiddling their tax reduces the total tax take. This shortfall has to be mad eup somehow and it's usually from PAYE where people have to pay the correct tax on their earnings.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Tangled Metal wrote:I met a mechanic like that. Got called in once but HMRC were too trusting so his story wasn't checked. Money stashed all over to hide it apparently.
An MD of a SME and fellow club mate was pontificating about how easy it was too "avoid" tax when he looked up at the new member the other side of the large bar table. A sudden thought struck his mind and he went quiet. The next thing he said was to ask what the new guy did for a living.
Can you guess what the newbie's answer was? Tax inspector!!! White face matched the white hair of the MD until the HMRC guy explained it wasn't his area and they don't shoot in their own backyard anyway. Needless to say the MD never discussed tax arrangements ever again. I don't think anyone did.
TBF to the new guy, he was a decent guy who, like most police friends, turned a blind eye to things among friends that should be in his remit to act on. Indeed I reckon he was a little bit of a poacher with his own finances. Nobody's fully honest these days I reckon.
And that's something many dislike about the police force - they let their friends get away with committing crimes. It's corruption.
Same with HMRC tax inspectors too. There's corruption in public sector jobs in many areas that people are not aware of or just don't see even when it's in their face. I have learnt not to be so naive as believe people are basically honest. At work I'm considered more honest than most but I heard a director telling someone that "he doesn't lie, but if he did it would be for the good of the company." I didn't know how to take that.
You can try and justify it as much as you like with your everybody does it type arguments but that doesn't mean it's not wrong. And yes I do believe the majority of police officers are honest as are most people working in public sector jobs.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
And yet when Covid struck there was a lot of sympathetic coverage of the tradesmen who had paid themselves entirely in dividends (and cash) so weren't eligible for the self-employed support (which was based on declared taxable income). I had no sympathy at all, but I guess quite a few journalists fell into the same bucket so skewed the stories accordingly.
NUKe wrote:I have several acquaintances. Self employed who do their level best not to pay tax, the daft thing is with proper accountancy they could probably earn more and pay tax.
I had a self employment element to my income from 1998 to 2002 and kept detailed records of my income and outgoings which I passed to my accountant to complete my tax return. Despite putting away a sizeable sum each year to pay a tax bill I never received one. Much to my amazement my accountant worked out I didn’t owe any. I queried this numerous times and was assured everything was above board and legal.
mikeonabike wrote:And yet when Covid struck there was a lot of sympathetic coverage of the tradesmen who had paid themselves entirely in dividends (and cash) so weren't eligible for the self-employed support (which was based on declared taxable income). I had no sympathy at all, but I guess quite a few journalists fell into the same bucket so skewed the stories accordingly.
The people paying themselves in dividends had set up limited companies. They were not self employed but employed by the company of which they were usually the main or only shareholder and paid themselves a low wage and the rest in the form of dividends which attract a lower rate of tax and no NI. They would be entitled to furlough payments based on their wage but nothing for the reduced dividends. No different in this respect to any shareholder in a company whose dividend income is reduced because of a lowering of profits due to C19.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
I've not listened to the linked programme but I suspect this is more a matter of HMRC requiring the information to be provided or at least, made available. If that's not forthcoming, then regulation would be a much bigger burden.
