Jeremy Tauri: Crackdown on cashies

The IRD is cracking down on cash jobs.

Ever been asked if you could do a better deal for a client if it was "under the table", or heard someone ask in a shop: What's the price for cash?

While New Zealand is quickly moving to a cashless society, with the news this week that ANZ is letting people shop using their phones, parts of the economy still have a strong cash culture.

And generally it's designed so that someone pays less, the business avoids tax and the whole deal is done under the radar of the Inland Revenue.

While you might associate "cashie" jobs with a deal from a tradie mate, the IRD has a more serious term: tax evasion.

It's indicated the construction sector is in for shakedown to identify the cashie jobs being done and start getting people to pay the right tax on them.

In May the IRD trialled a campaign in Auckland called "declare it all or risk everything" to discourage cash jobs, warning offenders could be heavily punished. One tradie reportedly received $68,000 in cashies. In some cases there were one-off cash jobs for as much $30,000.

While the campaign created a genuine concern from cashie receivers to report in their earnings, the IRD is also calling for anyone who knows anything to blow the whistle on those who are not declaring cash jobs.

Evasion of tax can result in a fine of up to $50,000 or jail plus the tax, penalties and interest.

Cashies can hurt business in several other ways. Insurance will not cover undeclared jobs. If you don't have Cover Plus Extra and have an accident, ACC will only pay out at the level of declared income - not that going under the table. And not declaring cash can affect the sales value of a business.

It is possible that the crackdown will help IRD gather information on property speculators who have not declared taxable gains on property transactions.

With every dollar the IRD spends on this activity, it yields six in return.