I have my own business and the people who pay cash say to me dont put it through the books. What do you think?

Question

I myself am happy to put everything through I need to see how the business is going.

Answer 1

I don't know what your tax rules are there. But we have pretty strict one's here. I started my own business in my home and  i  payed an accountant to handle my taxes. He screwed up and i ended up paying all of the taxes back! When my business grew and i had an office i made sure my taxes were all payed. So be careful!

Answer 2

It's called tax evasion. It's illegal. Loads of people do it, some get caught.

Answer 3

well the little  trades people that come to the house love cash... & eh..we dont mind if it helps em out............

Answer 4

dont put it through the books. make as much cash as you can before the govt s***w more taxes out of you.

Answer 5

I think it's probably best to start with putting it all through, as you are doing.  A lot of self employed people do 'cook the books' but I'd wait until things are a little more established and you can gauge how much needs to go through the books.  Als make sure you are claiming everything you can against your tax bill.

Answer 6

there are huge consequences to not declaring income for tax purposes so i really wouldn't risk it, tax evasion is a criminal offence and can often result in a custodial sentence.

even for cases which are seen as not so serious carry heavy financial penalties - see this HMRC guidance http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/cop8.htm#q

plus it doesn't always look good if people know what you are doing - as a customer i would assume there is something dodgy about a business who does that!

Answer 7

This is a truly moral dilemma. It is very tempting not to put this money through the books. I think I might, but it would depend how wealthy I was. This government will take everything from you if they can, and by having transparent accounts, it makes it easy for them to take more and more. I am a great believer in fair play however, and I always say 'pay back to caesar what belongs to caesar'. But our Govt do not believe in fair play, so I would say - keep it my friend and enjoy it!

Peace and great respect to you.

Answer 8

They probably are asking for anonymity. They dont want the sale traced backed to them.  If you must for business purposes, go ahead and put it on the books but change their names and info.

Answer 9

You have the strength of character not to allow other people to dictate your morals or your business practice.

You shouldn't lower your standards for other people.

Answer 10

~~They think if they pay you cash you can hide it from all the tax collecting entities. I always told people "jail is not my choice of home" and put it right through the register. Have you had people ask you if they pay cash would they get a discount?  They figure you don't pay the taxes, so split some of it with them. I was always amazed at how  people thought it was worth a serious crime to save a few dollars!~~

Answer 11

They mean to keep you below the VAT threshold if you're a sole trader.

Answer 12

Do you charge these people Vat?  I worked in a small business and some people were looking for "cash price" meaning price excluding vat.   You dont want to charge a price without VAT and than put it thugh the books where you will have to pay the VAT.

Depending on your business  if your cost of sales (purchases less diff in opening and closing stock) is very high in relation to sales it can cause revenue to look into your business (will compear people in same business)

If a new business put 99% of receipts though until you know where you stand.  make sure you claim all expenses and if you are going to fiddle Tax dont get gready

Good luck with the new business

Answer 13

your right what come in go in the book

only way to keep track of how your doing