IRD's anti-cash job campaign targets tradies

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Inland Revenue has taken another crack at trades people in its new online advertisement to discourage cash jobs. (First published in October 2017)

Inland Revenue has launched an advertising campaign warning tradespeople that their cash jobs can be traced by the taxman.

The IRD campaign was launched with an online video featuring tradesmen saying cash jobs harmed their industry's reputation.

But Master Electricians chief executive Neville Simpson said he told the tax department six weeks ago, when it was seeking industry feedback, that the adverts were 'a little bit over the top'.

Inland Revenue is cracking down on cash jobs after it uncovered $159 million in unpaid taxes in the last year.

One worker said in the video: '[cash jobs are] a rip-off to society and you see a lot of people getting caught'.

**READ MORE:

IRD has been cracking down on industries known to pay workers under the table since 2009.

* IRD fights growing cash economy among builders, tradies

* Cash jobs crackdown by IRD**

Another said: 'it's fraud'.

The advertisements with the slogan, 'declare it all, or risk everything,' will feature online, on radio and on billboards in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch from next week.

IRD spokesman Andrew Stott said the advertisement was part of IRD's plan to 'address tax crime in the building sector'.

An IRD investigation into the dubbed 'hidden economy' uncovered $159 million in unpaid taxes in the past year.

The department has been cracking down on industries known to pay workers under the table since 2009.

Another IRD spokesman said the department identified the building and construction industry as high risk because its workers did not always declare their full income for tax purposes.

He said the department consulted with trades associations prior to releasing the campaign and they supported it.

'Our feedback from these discussions is that they [trades associations] expect their members to keep good records and declare all their income.'

Stott warned builders, plumbers, painters and electricians that IRD could trace their undeclared cash jobs.

'You place yourself in a difficult position when you accept these jobs so the best advice is to record everything, declare every dollar and make sure you are charging GST, if required.'

The campaign aimed to make trades workers 'think hard about whether the risk is worth it', Stott said.

Simpson said he supported the campaign. He did not think it unfairly targeted the trades people.

'Tradies have been tarred with a brush of taking cash jobs … [The hidden economy] definitely needs to be tidied up.'

He said he could not comment on the final advertisement released on Tuesday because he had not seen it.