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1st February 2012
HMRC warn contractors against cash payments
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned contractors against taking cash payments, due to the detrimental effect that missed contractor tax can have on the economy.
While there are plenty of legal ways of reducing contractor tax, some people go one step further and ask for cash-in-hand payments to avoid taxes all together.
Now Dave Hartnett, permanent secretary for tax at HMRC, has highlighted how unfair this behaviour is, especially at a time when the country is suffering from cuts in public spending in order to get the economy back on track.
He told the Daily Telegraph: “Tax provides the funding to run the country: hospitals, schools and everything else. Every time someone pays cash in order not to pay VAT, the nation gets diddled.
“Cash has been a problem for a long time. The people who are worried about it should use our whistle-blowing line to tell us. We are getting better and better at finding people who receive cash.”
He added that people who are taking cash payments and avoiding contractor tax have no right to be complaining about the government's austerity measures due to the fact that they are failing to make their own fair contribution in taxes.
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