lifestyle and income don't seem to match
Discussion
Not sure this is the right forum but...
A frequent topic over a coffee with a work colleague is a neighbour of his and what he's been up to (sad, I know, but the anecdotes are amusing at times. like when the neighbour started effing and blinding a man who asked him not to park his van on the pavement thereby forcing children on their way to school to walk in the road and was then meek as a church mouse when the same man popped by a few days later in uniform). To try to summarise:
neighbour moved in 3 years ago
claims to be a self employed kitchen fitter/builder (own limited company)
roughly 40 years old
had no known work premises
tore down the 50s bungalow he bought and replaced it with a large contemporary home
has a wife that doesn't work outside the home
has a 16 plate 5 series and an 18 plate Q7
has a works van
My colleague (married with wife and 3 children and earning maybe £65K) has wondered about how on earth he can do all this on a kitchen fitter's/builder's salary but I said the building trade can be quite lucrative. But then I got bored and ran his name through companies house and something smells. His 2015-2017 accounts show an average turnover of £30K with an average profit of £5K. WTF? I can turn a blind eye to the odd cash transaction etc etc but his lifestyle and his declared income clearly don't match up. He can't be fiddling the kitchen trade books this much. Or can he?
A frequent topic over a coffee with a work colleague is a neighbour of his and what he's been up to (sad, I know, but the anecdotes are amusing at times. like when the neighbour started effing and blinding a man who asked him not to park his van on the pavement thereby forcing children on their way to school to walk in the road and was then meek as a church mouse when the same man popped by a few days later in uniform). To try to summarise:
neighbour moved in 3 years ago
claims to be a self employed kitchen fitter/builder (own limited company)
roughly 40 years old
had no known work premises
tore down the 50s bungalow he bought and replaced it with a large contemporary home
has a wife that doesn't work outside the home
has a 16 plate 5 series and an 18 plate Q7
has a works van
My colleague (married with wife and 3 children and earning maybe £65K) has wondered about how on earth he can do all this on a kitchen fitter's/builder's salary but I said the building trade can be quite lucrative. But then I got bored and ran his name through companies house and something smells. His 2015-2017 accounts show an average turnover of £30K with an average profit of £5K. WTF? I can turn a blind eye to the odd cash transaction etc etc but his lifestyle and his declared income clearly don't match up. He can't be fiddling the kitchen trade books this much. Or can he?
If you judged 75% of businesses via their CH filings I think you would land at the same conclusion...and that's before taking into account the cash in hand nature of a builder/kitchen fitter. In addition, I would be very surprised if he hadn't but the housebuild through the books and recovered the costs and VAT.
how about he has bought and sold houses for the last 30 years and done all the work himslef and owns it all outright with 1/2 a million in cash in the bank ? its all legitimately tax free as well because its his home - I have several friendswho have done this and buy/renovate every 2/3 years but do a few hours work a week at something else and indeed my own 'wealth' or what I have tied up in my property is largely due to property inflaation 20 years ago rather that what I 'earned' at the time
This could be an amusing thread...
He does have a 10 year old daughter
as he's only 40 I don't think he's been buying selling homes for 30 years.
I did suggest the inheritance angle to my colleague and he discounted that and claims both neighbour and wife come from a local council estate and are proud to have "made it out"
neighbour has apparently commented that it's not bad going for a first home etc etc
by the size of the man shed/entertainment complex in the back garden he's not moving any time soon
There's definitely some jealousy on the part of my colleague but at the same time things really don't appear to add up either.
Discuss! (as though I could stop the juggernaut now).
He does have a 10 year old daughter
as he's only 40 I don't think he's been buying selling homes for 30 years.
I did suggest the inheritance angle to my colleague and he discounted that and claims both neighbour and wife come from a local council estate and are proud to have "made it out"
neighbour has apparently commented that it's not bad going for a first home etc etc
by the size of the man shed/entertainment complex in the back garden he's not moving any time soon
There's definitely some jealousy on the part of my colleague but at the same time things really don't appear to add up either.
Discuss! (as though I could stop the juggernaut now).
Gribs said:
It's this sort of thing that makes me wish we had Norway's public tax return system. It'd make avoiding tax far more socially unacceptable.
Reminds me of some 8-10 years ago when Italian tax authorities began to cross check vehicle registrations with tax returns and found far too many disconnects - declaring almost no income but driving an expensive car. There were some bargains to be had as people started to jettison their flash cars.
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