Is working "off the books" illegal?

Question

Is it illegal to be working "off the books"? Or is it just bad for our own protection?

Answer 1

It is illegal...it means both the employee and employer are avoiding taxes  they are legally obligated to pay.

Answer 2

Plain and simple...YES.

Answer 3

it's illegal and doesn;t really help you - no taxes are being paid into social security for you.

you probably do not have any health insurance with that company.

they definitely are not paying into the unemployment system for you - if they terminate you - you will NOT be able to collect unemployment benefits, because you won;t be in the system

Answer 4

it's a way of evading taxes...yes, illegal.

Answer 5

You and your employer will get locked up. It's illegal and it is unfair to the rest of us hard working tax payers. Who do you think will be paying for stuff like cops and govt. offices without taxes. It's mean and wrong. You should never do this, it is worse than killing someone.

Answer 6

In the Uk, it is the employer's responsibility to pay over tax and NIC for employees - so yes, it is unlawful in terms of tax, but the employee is not committing any offence.

Answer 7

For the employer, it's illegal to pay you "off the books".

For the employee, it's illegal if you don't report the income on a tax return and pay any taxes due.