Simple way to clamp down on tax evasion

[Santo]

I believe in Italy it is an offence for the shop and the customer not to be able to produce a receipt for a purchase,even for a cup of coffee.

 

It is indeed. I have literally been chased by a cafe owner wielding a receipt because I had walked off without it.

 

Both the shop and the customer can be fined. The shop more than the customer though.

[Penistone999]

You do know it is against the law to knowingly pay cash in hand to avoid paying VAT?

 

You say that everyone is a winner. A calculation done in 2012 estimated that £8 billion in tax is lost because of cash in hand transactions. Not the biggest cause of lost tax revenue by any means, but £8 billion is nothing to sniff at.

 

Wouldn't you think it would be better spent on things like the NHS than allowing people like myself to get a 20% discount on some plastering?

 

A builder i know recently needed to upgrade his van ,so he had a look around vans at a few dealers and test drove some ,and found the make of van he wanted. He then spent a couple of weeks searching E Bay , Gumtree , etc till he found the same van at the same price and bought it from a private seller. The van cost him 9k , but he saved himself £1800 by not having to pay the VAT on it , which he would have if he had bought from the dealers.

 

This dosnt make him a criminal because he bought private to avoid the dealers VAT.

[Robin-H]

A builder i know recently needed to upgrade his van ,so he had a look around vans at a few dealers and test drove some ,and found the make of van he wanted. He then spent a couple of weeks searching E Bay , Gumtree , etc till he found the same van at the same price and bought it from a private seller. The van cost him 9k , but he saved himself £1800 by not having to pay the VAT on it , which he would have if he had bought from the dealers.

 

This dosnt make him a criminal because he bought private to avoid the dealers VAT.

 

Knowingly avoiding VAT by paying traders cash in hand is a crime.

 

https://www.gov.uk/report-vat-fraud

[Penistone999]

Knowingly avoiding VAT by paying traders cash in hand is a crime.

 

https://www.gov.uk/report-vat-fraud

 

A private seller is NOT a trader .

[Robin-H]

A private seller is NOT a trader .

 

I know.. I'm not commenting on your example - of course there is nothing wrong with shopping around and buying from a private seller at a cheaper price, nobody is remotely suggesting otherwise..

[999tigger]

Everyone, who actually thinks about it, knows that tax evasion (and even elaborate tax avoidance) is anti social and selfish, in fact tax evasion is actually illegal. When we were in Crete we noticed that all businesses had the following notice displayed prominently :

 

The consumer is not obliged to pay if the notice of payment has not been received (receipt - invoice)

 

So the Greeks are doing something about tax non payment ! Would this legal notice be worth adopting over here ? How successful would it be ?

 

You do realise that Greece has one of the biggest tax collection/ evasion problems in Europe? Its one of the factors that sent them into their recent crisis.

[psynuk]

A private seller is NOT a trader .

 

Iirc at some point a private seller does become a trader.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/11077630/eBay-users-warned-to-declare-income-as-trader-is-jailed-for-tax-evasion.html

A good example is people on here who are selling the ps4 they bought for 150 solely to resell for 220, they should really be declaring that.

 

So like most things your, 'I'm alright jack', £ gouging attitude is somewhat wide of the moral benchmark.

[carosio]

Iirc at some point a private seller does become a trader.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/11077630/eBay-users-warned-to-declare-income-as-trader-is-jailed-for-tax-evasion.html

A good example is people on here who are selling the ps4 they bought for 150 solely to resell for 220, they should really be declaring that.

 

So like most things your, 'I'm alright jack', £ gouging attitude is somewhat wide of the moral benchmark.

 

But if they sell the PS4 for £100, can they claim a loss of £50, and carry the loss forward?

 

If everyone declared every transaction then the Revenue wouldn't be able to cope.

[Penistone999]

Iirc at some point a private seller does become a trader.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/11077630/eBay-users-warned-to-declare-income-as-trader-is-jailed-for-tax-evasion.html

A good example is people on here who are selling the ps4 they bought for 150 solely to resell for 220, they should really be declaring that.

So like most things your, 'I'm alright jack', £ gouging attitude is somewhat wide of the moral benchmark.

 

Why should they declare it ? They are just making a bit of cash on something .

[Santo]

Why should they declare it ? They are just making a bit of cash on something .

 

You didn't read the story then?

 

What a surprise.