Barbers - Income

[bond]

How does this work? My barber has an open till (literally it is open at the back of the barber shop), no receipts (no paper/computerised till) and cash only, so no record of how much is going in (and out) of the till, and no formal record of how many customers have paid, therefore no record of much income he is making? Is this really allowed to happen? I can't believe no formal record is not required. His standard haircut costs £17. I can't see any record at companies house. Btw, he drives a very nice Mercedes Benz. I am curious.

[Peter Pedant]

cash only
yes he is allowed to
Clearly as a sole trader he to fill out a tax form - which is personal ( his sole trading generates income)

sole traders contribute of all the loolah the govt gets, 2% of the tax take. you can see why
(No.... not 2% sole traders only pay tax nor sole traders pay 2% tax and keep 98% nor....)

[davebro]

You will find generally that a self employed person with the same level of income (declared for tax purposes) as a person taxed under PAYE will have more (& better) of the things that money can buy!

So it is evident that most fiddle if they can. Having said that Tax Inspectors have copious guides on all the various trades, what they should earn & what tricks of the trade to look out for. They do their best.

[Buenchico]

Companies House only hold records of limited companies. If your barber is operating as a sole trader, then his business won't be listed.

HMRC simply require that he keeps a record of his income and his outgoings. He doesn't need to have any form of cash register, he can just keep his money in a tin if he so chooses. As long as he records how much is in there, as a float, at the start of each day (or even at the start of each week) and how much is there at the end of each day (or week), his record-keeping will be sufficient to pass any basic tax checks. There's no need for him to show that he got £17 from cutting Fred Bloggs' hair, £14 from cutting the hair of Fred's young son and £25 from giving John Smith a hair cut and a wet shave. As long as his total income looks to be reasonable for someone in his line of business, HMRC will probably accept it as being correct (irrespective of whether it actually is or not).

[ToraToraTora]

yes it's allowed. Even with a normal Jack and jill there is no record if they don't want their to be. What is your point?

[ToraToraTora]

* there!

[barry1010]

My window cleaner doesn't carry a till, all his payments go in to his bag. No receipts, either.

[Ken4155]

Don't know which part of the country you live in, Bond, but £17 for a haircut is quite steep! Mine charges £8 and only reluctantly put his prices up because of Covid lockdowns.

[schippiegalette]

Technically it's not supposed to happen, realistically it happens all the time. If you are trading, Law obliges you to make business records and submit a self-assessment to HMRC each year. Those who don't risk prosecution if found out. All it would need would be a dodgy haircut and unsatisfied customer to inform HMRC of his wrong doings.

[schippiegalette]

My son recently paid £22 for a haircut at a posh salon. He was gutted and now I'm allowed to cut his hair again!

[gingejbee]

It's a cut-throat business....and there are over-heads.

[barry1010]

I know my window cleaner submits proper accounts and pays the right amount of income tax.

[douglas9401]

There's a corner shop near me that has two tills, I think named after the owners children, Wontehu and Wontehme.

Till schmill.

[Hopkirk]

Under reporting backfires in a covid pandemic situation. Asking the government to cover your 'normal' income leaves you short.

[New Judge]

Most of my barber's charges go on a search fee! :-)

[Hopkirk]

Ah, that explains the wig

[New Judge]

:-) :-)