I had my car fixed and picked it up today. It was hit in a parking lot and had the front bumper destroyed. The insurance company set me up with an auto body place, so I took it there without looking into it because it wasn’t going to cost me anything.
While it was getting fixed I read some reviews on the place and some said it seemed to have shady business practices. When I went in to pay (I’m being compensated by the insurance co) he frowned when I pulled out a credit card and said he prefers cash. He told me he’d knock off 45 bucks if I brought back cash, so I did.
Seems a bit odd to me for a busy auto body co. Why the issue with cards?
I don’t know what the normal credit card charge is, but places like antique shops pretty much always give a 10% discount for cash or check. Perhaps lower volume places really get screwed on the credit card charges?
It’s nowhere near 10%. I guarantee you these people are not paying taxes on some of merchandise or services. Both antiques and services are difficult to track if there’s no paper trail (invoices from manufacturers, credit card companies, etc.).
I had my car fixed and picked it up today. It was hit in a parking lot and had the front bumper destroyed. The insurance company set me up with an auto body place, so I took it there without looking into it because it wasn’t going to cost me anything.
While it was getting fixed I read some reviews on the place and some said it seemed to have shady business practices. When I went in to pay (I’m being compensated by the insurance co) he frowned when I pulled out a credit card and said he prefers cash. He told me he’d knock off 45 bucks if I brought back cash, so I did.
Seems a bit odd to me for a busy auto body co. Why the issue with cards?
What is the issue with having a preference? They did not force you to pay cash and offered a discount. I don’t see any issue here.
Whether or not the place reports all of their revenue is not really your concern, if so you would be surprised to find out how shady almost all of corporate America is with not reporting all revenue or dodging taxes.
No real issue other than curiosity. Just seemed a bit odd to offer a $45 discount for paying cash. Sometimes I’m just curious how some businesses operate
The interchange fee is likely 1.75%-3% +.10cents per transaction if he is using his local bank. But like others have said, not paying tax is where his is saving enough to make $45 worth it to him.
Cash discounts are way more common then most people think. I recently remodeled my home and found most contractors offered a cash discount if I was interested. I think as the economy is in the tank, this will become a lot more common.
Just in the future so you know, you don’t have to go to the repair place the insurance company says. You are entitled to get your own quote from someone you trust and go there.
The sale has a definate transaction history with a card, right. I wonder what the shop told your insurance company was actually done to the car and how much it costs. I suspect that the IRS was not the cause.
For $600, it’s probably more like $9. But, he may have just said $45 to make it more compelling for you to use cash. This doesn’t mean he had shady intentions. He may just find it a royal P.I.T.A. to deal with the CC company and tries to get cash transactions as often as possible.
Whether or not the place reports all of their revenue is not really your concern, if so you would be surprised to find out how shady almost all of corporate America is with not reporting all revenue or dodging taxes.
I think you’re “stretching” it a bit using “Almost all of corporate America”. For the most part none of teh corporations I deal with “Cheat”. In fact I suspect any B to B has a VERY difficult time cheating. Almost no one pays by cash for B to B transactions and everything is deductable and accountable.
If I pay a vendor, It’s by check or credit card. I report it as an expense and they damn well better report it as income or one or both of us is getting audited.
Trust me I’ve been trying to figure out a way for 15+ years to pay “Less taxes” and about the only way is to have people pay you in cash and avoid the receipt.
Other than that there is a record of everything. My account even had me start stapling the check stub to every invoice in case I get audited because the IRS no longer accepts “Computer information” with a hard copy…no idea how that would work with a multi million dollar company, but by god I’ve been stapling every check stub to invoices for the last couple years
Whether or not the place reports all of their revenue is not really your concern, if so you would be surprised to find out how shady almost all of corporate America is with not reporting all revenue or dodging taxes.
I think you’re “stretching” it a bit using “Almost all of corporate America”. For the most part none of teh corporations I deal with “Cheat”. In fact I suspect any B to B has a VERY difficult time cheating. Almost no one pays by cash for B to B transactions and everything is deductable and accountable.
If I pay a vendor, It’s by check or credit card. I report it as an expense and they damn well better report it as income or one or both of us is getting audited.
Trust me I’ve been trying to figure out a way for 15+ years to pay “Less taxes” and about the only way is to have people pay you in cash and avoid the receipt.
Other than that there is a record of everything. My account even had me start stapling the check stub to every invoice in case I get audited because the IRS no longer accepts “Computer information” with a hard copy…no idea how that would work with a multi million dollar company, but by god I’ve been stapling every check stub to invoices for the last couple years
~Matt
Let me rephrase. I group tax cheating and using abusive (but technically legal methods) in the same book. Any company with any phase of their business off shore is almost always solely a means to avoid taxes, this is tax dodging. Getting politicians to waive taxes is tax evasion in my book.
I live in NYS and we are giving AMD up to $1 billion in tax breaks to set up a fab in upstate. This was lobbied for and is forcing the citizen’s to ultimately make up the $1 billion in taxes that will not be collected, meanwhile AMD and the people it employs will be using all state services.
Cabella’s entire business model is based on getting tax credits to pay for building their stores.
I would recommend reading “Perfectly Legal” and “Free Lunch” it will open your eyes to how much in the way of taxes are evaded by corporations and wealthy individuals. Good luck to us chumps with W-2s.
