Can I get in trouble if I pay my builder in cash and he fails to declare it for tax? Consumer rights lawyer DEAN DUNHAM replies

Can I get in trouble if I pay my builder in cash and he dodges tax?

D. H., via email.

Dean Dunham replies: While it is, of course, perfectly legal to pay your builder in cash, you are right to highlight the potential concern about the payment of taxes.

If the builder does not declare the cash payment they received from you and pay the necessary taxes, they are committing tax evasion, which is a criminal offence.

The primary responsibility for this will naturally lie with the builder, but you could potentially be investigated as an accessory if HMRC suspects you were aware of the tax evasion. 

If HMRC were to establish that you were aware, you too could find yourself on the end of criminal proceedings, potentially landing you with a fine and/or prison sentence.

However, this would only be the case if you paid the builder knowing they were going to commit tax evasion and, of course, on most occasions you would not know this. 

Where you do suspect tax evasion, the best action to take to protect yourself is to report your suspicions to HMRC.

If we put aside your concerns about your builder dodging tax, there are two other reasons why paying in cash is not a good idea. 

Firstly, a cash payment does not come with any evidence trail, so unless you have a signed receipt acknowledging the payment, you have no way of proving you actually made the payment. 

By contrast, a bank transfer, debit or credit card payment would be easy to trace and prove.

Secondly, a cash payment comes with zero protection if something goes wrong. If you pay via debit or credit card, you will be able to turn to your card provider for a remedy if there is an issue with the work carried out (or not carried out) by the builder and is known as a chargeback or a Section 75 claim.

A bank transfer does not afford the same protection, but if the builder turned out to be a fraudster you could claim your

money back from the bank under the APP fraud protection that banks must provide to customers.

Vet charged thousands for futile operations on my cat 

My vet has charged me thousands of pounds for three operations on my cat, but despite having them my cat died. 

A different vet has expressed the view that these procedures were unnecessary as my cat was terminally ill. Can I claim my money back?

W. Jacobs, via email.

Dean Dunham replies: In this case we can look to Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act, which states that services (such as operations carried out by a vet) must be performed with ‘reasonable care and skill’.

When the service is performed by a trained professional, here a vet, the level of care and skill is deemed to be higher and must be on par with the level of care and skill provided by another vet.

Carrying out an operation on a terminally ill animal clearly falls below the level of care and skill expected of this vet and this is made even worse by the fact that three unnecessary operations were performed.

In these circumstances, my view is that you are entitled to claim all your money back and you may even be entitled to claim compensation for the distress caused to you.

Write to your vet and claim the money back, citing Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act and claim the additional compensation mentioned above if you feel it necessary. 

If the vet rejects your claim, ask forall medical records and documentation related to your cat, which should include any diagnostic tests, treatment plans, and invoices.

You can then file a complaint with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, making sure you include all the evidence and documentation you

have gathered. Finally, if you paid with a debit or credit card, you could also lodge a chargeback or Section 75 claim with your bank/credit card provider.

You will need to explain the circumstances and say there has a been a ‘breach of contract’ as your vet failed to carry out its service with reasonable care and skill.