Hello everyone,
We are currently buying a house, and something very strange happened that I’m not sure how to handle.
A bit of background: after a long search and countless viewings, we finally managed to get a house.
The viewing had to be arranged at very short notice, and there was no time for my partner to join. (Luckily, I recorded everything on video.)
My partner never saw the house from the inside but was still convinced by the videos and the location, so we signed the purchase contract.
Now to the situation:
We met the real estate agent (almost) for the first time when signing the purchase contract; before that, there were only a few phone calls where he requested the financing confirmation and informed us about the notary appointment.
All other contact and the viewing were conducted with the neighbor, who is a friend of the owner.
Shortly before the notary appointment, the agent wanted to meet again. He then offered me to pay the €20,000 (about $21,500) commission in cash right after the notary appointment to avoid taxes, which could save us almost €3,000 (about $3,200).
(I have to admit, at the time I thought he meant we could save the 3% VAT, so I said it probably shouldn’t be that much.)
I declined the offer, which obviously didn’t please him...
Later, after talking to someone else, I realized that he was actually suggesting an undeclared cash payment, completely without paying 16% or 19% VAT.
A quick calculation confirmed that we would have paid about €17,000 (about $18,300) in total.
Still, I was glad to refuse because we included the commission in our financing and would have had no proof of payment.
Now here’s the strange part:
We have just received an invoice for the full €20,000 (about $21,500), which states that no VAT is due due to the small business regulation (Kleinunternehmerregelung).
This confuses me a lot. If he doesn’t have to charge VAT, how could he make the previous offer?
The company looks well-established, offers many services, and according to the website has been around for 20 years. (In theory, it could still be possible that he qualifies as a small business under VAT rules.)
I don’t understand any of this.
At the same time, he seems to be a very close friend of the owner, and we don’t want to upset him since we haven’t taken possession of the house yet.
The payment deadline on the invoice is the day after tomorrow.
I would appreciate any advice.
Best regards
We are currently buying a house, and something very strange happened that I’m not sure how to handle.
A bit of background: after a long search and countless viewings, we finally managed to get a house.
The viewing had to be arranged at very short notice, and there was no time for my partner to join. (Luckily, I recorded everything on video.)
My partner never saw the house from the inside but was still convinced by the videos and the location, so we signed the purchase contract.
Now to the situation:
We met the real estate agent (almost) for the first time when signing the purchase contract; before that, there were only a few phone calls where he requested the financing confirmation and informed us about the notary appointment.
All other contact and the viewing were conducted with the neighbor, who is a friend of the owner.
Shortly before the notary appointment, the agent wanted to meet again. He then offered me to pay the €20,000 (about $21,500) commission in cash right after the notary appointment to avoid taxes, which could save us almost €3,000 (about $3,200).
(I have to admit, at the time I thought he meant we could save the 3% VAT, so I said it probably shouldn’t be that much.)
I declined the offer, which obviously didn’t please him...
Later, after talking to someone else, I realized that he was actually suggesting an undeclared cash payment, completely without paying 16% or 19% VAT.
A quick calculation confirmed that we would have paid about €17,000 (about $18,300) in total.
Still, I was glad to refuse because we included the commission in our financing and would have had no proof of payment.
Now here’s the strange part:
We have just received an invoice for the full €20,000 (about $21,500), which states that no VAT is due due to the small business regulation (Kleinunternehmerregelung).
This confuses me a lot. If he doesn’t have to charge VAT, how could he make the previous offer?
The company looks well-established, offers many services, and according to the website has been around for 20 years. (In theory, it could still be possible that he qualifies as a small business under VAT rules.)
I don’t understand any of this.
At the same time, he seems to be a very close friend of the owner, and we don’t want to upset him since we haven’t taken possession of the house yet.
The payment deadline on the invoice is the day after tomorrow.
I would appreciate any advice.
Best regards
According to a friend who ran a restaurant business for many years, with the new cash register systems (or rather the regulations for them), it’s basically no longer possible to cheat—at least not without raising suspicion. However, some restaurateurs simply don’t enter the sales into the cash register at all.
This only works with cash payments.
We have a “favorite” Asian restaurant (very authentic Szechuan cuisine), and we've kind of made a bet. Whenever we pay, we watch to see if he “closes” the bill or cancels it. With cash payments, it almost always happens that he looks at the table to add up the amount and calculate the change. If he’s not quick enough mentally, he uses a calculator to work it out—and then cancels the transaction, so no revenue is recorded in the cash register.
He never does this with card payments.
This only works with cash payments.
We have a “favorite” Asian restaurant (very authentic Szechuan cuisine), and we've kind of made a bet. Whenever we pay, we watch to see if he “closes” the bill or cancels it. With cash payments, it almost always happens that he looks at the table to add up the amount and calculate the change. If he’s not quick enough mentally, he uses a calculator to work it out—and then cancels the transaction, so no revenue is recorded in the cash register.
He never does this with card payments.
Snowy36 schrieb:
I doubt anyone even notices whether it's 10 houses sold or 15....Regarding the "black market" five properties, he would have to handle all communications separately, otherwise he would leave traces. Tolentino schrieb:
We have a "favorite" Asian restaurant (very authentic Szechuan cuisine) and a kind of bet. Whenever we pay, we watch to see if he "closes" the bill or cancels it. [...] He never does that with debit card payments.At least his approach indicates that his business isn’t optimized for money laundering ;-)https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
HilfeHilfe schrieb:
The entire hospitality staff is just the same. They are laughing their heads off. They receive 75% from the government, sendif they could get it right away. The government is causing us quite a few other problems as well...K
knalltüte8 Jan 2021 17:16Olli-Ka schrieb:
if only they would get it right the first time.
The government is causing us even more problems... I can say the same. The advance payment promised by the end of November (50% of the aid) only arrived after a struggle with the tax advisor around mid-December. The rest might already be there, but I haven’t heard about it yet. You can already apply for the December aid – lol. That will probably go the same way. Also, there is no 75% support (that’s just marketing), but in the case I personally know (ex-wife), it’s something around 70%. It’s not hospitality (but still forced to be 100% closed), so all fixed costs (rent, etc.) continue. The income previously earned personally doesn’t matter.
One of my clients (hotel + restaurant, prime location in MS) expects the aid around February. Fully taxable in 2020 (why?). That is also likely to cause problems. By the way, this is a top hotel, always fully booked. They don’t complain to me directly, but “between the lines” I at least hear real problems.
11ant schrieb:
Regarding the "black" five properties, he would have to handle all communication separately, otherwise he would leave traces. Well, for that to happen, someone would first have to find out, and who would that be?
And if it’s not stated in the deed of sale, he could still claim that he actually never brokered the specific house in question.