What is the extent of tax evasion these days?

Gordon Gekko said:
If that was me, I'd be a little more forceful.

€1,000 plus 13.5% VAT is (obviously) €1,135. The service provider probably ends up with €480 after tax (assuming he's a higher rate tax/USC payer). So "splitting the benefit" would pitch it at around the €800 level.
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if a tradesman wants a grand + vat for a job , i offer him 800 quid cash , vat isnt in the equation when offering cash
 
T McGibney said:
Best be careful here. That's avoidance, not evasion.
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Did you read the article? If it was avoidance how come "the investigation has yielded €61m in taxes, penalties and interest"?.

Last time I checked, Revenue weren't charging interest and penalties where all taxes were paid correctly and on time.
 
newtothis said:
Did you read the article? If it was avoidance how come "the investigation has yielded €61m in taxes, penalties and interest"?.

Last time I checked, Revenue weren't charging interest and penalties where all taxes were paid correctly and on time.
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I'm well aware of the case, thanks. It involves aggressive tax avoidance strategies that fell foul of Revenue. If you want to persist with allegations of evasion, you can maybe give @Brendan Burgess your name, address, bank details and a indemnity against libel damages.
 
T McGibney said:
I'm well aware of the case, thanks. It involves aggressive tax avoidance strategies that fell foul of Revenue. If you want to persist with allegations of evasion, you can maybe give @Brendan Burgess your name, address, bank details and a indemnity against libel damages.
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I'm afraid the distinction between "avoidance strategies that fell foul of Revenue" and "evasion" is way too subtle for me. The former sounds like a varient of Father Ted's "the cash was just was resting in my account....."
 
galway_blow_in said:
hardly a surprise , no wonder so many of them dont even have card facilities to pay :rolleyes:
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That in itself is a fair point and one I think we have discussed before.

Where possible, pay by card or failing that even a cheque (if they'll take one), and insist on a receipt - which you may need for reclaiming money on your health insurance, or possibly for tax purposes.
 
Tax evasion is common with doctors and vets and anyone who gets cash payments for their time.
I just collected by dog from the kennels and they only take cash. I think it is reasonable to assume that they are not declaring all of their income to revenue.
In my opinion people or businesses who only take cash are doing so for one reason only; tax evasion.
 
As I leave for work each morning I pass a number of houses with no sign of life. All occupants living on welfare despite numerous employment opportunities in the district. I feel real good that I can support these people
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Tommy

I have moved this to a separate thread as it merits separate discussion and so that it doesn't take away from the other thread.

I have no doubt that your clients are tax compliant.

I have no doubt that tax compliance has improved over the last 30 years or so.

Maybe my view is distorted by a couple of cases in the past month or so but I believe that it's still widespread in cash businesses.

Brendan
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And you are correct. There are plenty still not declaring. I have one relatively recently deceased relative who never declared a source of income for 20 years. I've an inlaw ex teacher that has more than one pension and there was a bit of a fuss about it a couple of years ago, but it's all settled down now so I think the pension is not declared.

Even doctors are at it, it's not just taxis's and hairdressers etc.
 
What's the story with buying a car for instance? If i've got a good few thousand to buy a new car along with trading in against the new one, is there any check on the cash? I'm hearing of loads of people buying cars for large amounts of cash. Then again, all this cash could be legit. Just saying??
 
Bronte said:
And you are correct. There are plenty still not declaring. I have one relatively recently deceased relative who never declared a source of income for 20 years. I've an inlaw ex teacher that has more than one pension and there was a bit of a fuss about it a couple of years ago, but it's all settled down now so I think the pension is not declared.

Even doctors are at it, it's not just taxis's and hairdressers etc.
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I'd love to know how the probate worked if it was taken out? Amazing the amount of joined up thinking is involved with the different departments when one has to take out probate. Catches out an awful lot who are expecting rather large inheritances from relatives who pass away but who were keeping shtum about an awful lot of things in order to avail of different "things". That's when the public find out that our public service aren't have as dumb as some think.
 
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noproblem said:
I'd love to know how the probate worked if it was taken out? Amazing the amount of joined up thinking is involved with the different departments when one has to take out probate. Catches out an awful lot who are expecting rather large inheritances from relatives who pass away but who were keeping shtum about an awful lot of things in order to avail of different "things". That's when the public find out that our public service aren't have as dumb as some think.
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Well you are wrong. But I'm not going into it as I'm well aware of who reads on here. There are many tricks out there and I've seen a life time of them. In two countries. I've also seen people get caught. But that doesn't seem to deter it. I know people came under both the tax amnesties. I've seen deals done with revenue, I negotiated one myself once for a client. Though I think that may not be an option nowadays.
 
Bronte said:
I have one relatively recently deceased relative who never declared a source of income for 20 years. I've an inlaw ex teacher that has more than one pension and there was a bit of a fuss about it a couple of years ago, but it's all settled down now so I think the pension is not declared.
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I find both those stories astonishing.

I have no doubt that people die and leave the executor with a big problem as they have a lot of cash which they had not declared. I don't know how active Revenue is, but a lot of returns have to be filed.

I have no idea how anyone could expect to get away with not declaring a pension in the longer term. Presumably it is being paid from abroad into a bank account somewhere? I suppose if the bank account and the pension were abroad, Revenue might never pick it up.

Again, it seems to me that this person is leaving a real headache behind them to their executor. They will have to do back tax returns or continue to lie.

Brendan
 
Bronte said:
Well you are wrong. But I'm not going into it as I'm well aware of who reads on here. There are many tricks out there and I've seen a life time of them. In two countries. I've also seen people get caught. But that doesn't seem to deter it. I know people came under both the tax amnesties. I've seen deals done with revenue, I negotiated one myself once for a client. Though I think that may not be an option nowadays.
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Bronte,
In what way am I wrong please? I am not saying the revenue or authorities know all that's going on, but when probate is applied for I can assure you an awful lot of revenue is paid back from estates. People who though they had fooled the system and had left sizeable estates, etc, to their loved one's will never know how foolish they had been, but the people inheriting will find out. That's all all was saying.
 
I wonder what percentage of lower earners are fiddling the system as compared to the top earners and what sort of figures are we talking about? That would also make interesting reading.
 
noproblem said:
I wonder what percentage of lower earners are fiddling the system as compared to the top earners and what sort of figures are we talking about? That would also make interesting reading.
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I recently refurbished a house. The total cost was in the region of €15k. Every single tradesman wanted to be paid in cash upon completion. Not one gave me receipt. It really made me think. What percentage of the common trades are paying over the tax threshold? I would be very interested to know.
 
XMarks said:
I recently refurbished a house. The total cost was in the region of €15k. Every single tradesman wanted to be paid in cash upon completion. Not one gave me receipt. It really made me think. What percentage of the common trades are paying over the tax threshold? I would be very interested to know.
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That is somewhat odd. When you say you refurbished, presumably you bought fixtures and fittings? Did you not get a receipt for any of these items?
How much of the €15,000 relates to labour?
 
I am all for a cashless society and it would cut out a lot these tradesmen not declaring there income the only problem we would have is when we visit one of them lapdancing places in Dublin where would we put our cards
 
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