Betty The Restauranteur

[Ben_Who]

How can she refuse? If she owes, and has the money, doesn't she HAVE to give it to you?

Not speaking to that situation, but $5,000 is the borderline for small-claims. If she owed me $4,999, I'd pay $35 to see her in court and probably get her to reimburse me the $35 as well. Above that might require out of pocket expenses that, while they might be reimbursed, aren't immediately available.

(I had to sue a former roommate...that'll stay with you...)

[Silent-Hunter]

How can she refuse? If she owes, and has the money, doesn't she HAVE to give it to you?

[registerrodeo]

Wow, my ex boss is running a restaurant too? She still owes me $5000, but it will cost me to go after her and as much as I couldn't afford to lose it, I can't afford to go after it either. I am just sitting back, enjoying my new job that I am making more money at and watching her fail. The bitch's attorney (a really nice guy) is aware and would love to get me the money (he has copies of the proof that she owes it to me) but she would not allow him to give it to me from a trust she has.

[greek_jester]

What's truly pathetic is that there are _way_ too many bosses who are like this (evilhomer and Gerrinson ex-bosses for example)...

One of our (now ex! ) clients didn't seem to understand, despite repeated explanations, that he couldn't claim as expenses anything related to his home in another Commonwealth country through his UK-based limited company. They would always be classed as a loan by the company (a legal entity within its own right) to the director, and would be posted to the director's loan account (DLA).

I was always careful to keep a complete spreadsheet of his DLA transactions, sub-divided into cash drawn, food/drink, and house utilities so that we could point them all out to him in his annual rant about the size of his DLA. Please note that if an overdrawn DLA (i.e. the director owes the company) is not repaid in full within 9 months of the year end, the company has to pay tax on the loan at 25% of the outstanding balance at the year end, and the director has to account for a benefit in kind on his personal tax return. Given that his DLA was usually overdrawn by a couple of hundred thousand, this was a not-insignificant chunk of cash for both the company and the director.

He also threw an epic sh@t-fit when legislation came in that meant he couldn't just declare un-drawn dividends to clear the DLA if the business didn't make enough profits to justify dividends (it rarely did).

It got even louder when he found out about the rules that said he couldn't repay the DLA in full to avoid the tax charge, then withdrawn the money again a couple of days later (this is now classed as tax evasion).

Ex client (w00t!) is now with another, cheaper, accountant who will happily do whatever is asked of him. HMRC are not stupid, though, and will probably notice the marked difference in claimed expenses versus DLA on his next accounts and order a tax inspection. Said cheaper client doesn't include cover against HMRC prosecution for their mistakes the way we do...

[eltf177]

But he was undone by his belief that it was a piggy bank that he could pull money out of whenever something shiny caught his eye.

Idiot.

What's truly pathetic is that there are _way_ too many bosses who are like this (evilhomer and Gerrinson ex-bosses for example)...

[TonyDonuts]

My MIL managed a restaurant for an off-site owner.

She was supposed to handle day-to-day, and he would pay the bills, including payroll.

He was the guy who constantly cried, "Poor me, I have no money!" when checks to suppliers and employees bounced. In the next breath he would tell you about his new Harley, or his new Jag, or the two weeks he was about to spend in Hawaii or Jamaica.

Towards the end, she started paying suppliers out of the cash register, because they wouldn't wait for the owner ("Poor me! I have no money!") to get around to paying them for product. And she started paying staff DAILY in cash out of the cash register, making best guesses for payroll withholding and setting the cash aside to MAKE SURE on a weekly basis that the owner was paying the various payroll taxes.

Because it was anybody's guess if the owner would leave enough money in the bank to cover payroll.

Guy's restaurant served great food, with great service, it was always busy with good lunch crowds during the week, and with excellent weekend traffic.

But he was undone by his belief that it was a piggy bank that he could pull money out of whenever something shiny caught his eye.

Idiot.

[Caractacus_Potts]

Nothing like going to the bank only to find out your employer is out of money. That happened to me once.

Better was my brief stint as a gas station attendant. At the end of my first week the owner paid me with a personal check. Apparently between medicaid, medicare, social security, street tax, city tax, county tax, the Berenstain Bears tax, state tax, federal tax, United Nations dues and the new Unicorn tax I was supposed to believe that taxes ate up over 70% of my pay.

After threatening to report him to the IRS and getting him to pay me the rest of what he owed me I walked away and never went back. In retrospect I should have reported him anyway.

[Shalom]

There's a nugget of truth behind the saying "Banks only lend money to people who don't need it".

" . . . A tablet unearthed at n'Yok gives a welcome glimpse into the financial affairs of the We `Having borrowed a million,' it states in transcription, `I thereby acquired credit to twice that anount.' This seems to suggest an economy not unlike our own . . . one is reminded of the motto of our own Treasury Department, To the borrower, all . . . throughout history, there has never been anything as useful as credit, for establishing credit. Without a debt, there is nothing."

-- Robert Nathan, Digging The Weans, as quoted by Theodore Bikel, Town Hall, NYC, 1959

[eltf177]

Betty's Hubs is trying to have it both ways. He wants the bank to take a risk by giving him a loan, but he doesn't want to show income to support the loan so he doesn't have to pay taxes to Uncle Sam. He's probably yearning for the bad old days of liar loans when that sort of thing was actually encouraged.

100% agree! And when they default going after any other assets becomes more difficult.

Time to pull the plug on this comatose loan and hit these people in the pocketbook!

[wolfie]

There's a nugget of truth behind the saying "Banks only lend money to people who don't need it".

[AmbrosiaWriter]

It boggles me that people think that banks will give out a loan when they are PURPOSEFULLY showing no income. Why should the bank believe that you will pay the loan back? That's what is the purpose of banks giving out loans, after all.

Give $5,000 loan, get the loan paid back over time with interest, thus making profit for the bank. If you have NO WAY TO PROOVE that you have money coming in to you consistently that will let you pay back said loan, bank will not GIVE said loan.

[strawbabies]

What a pair of incompetent jerks. I'll bet they're so deep in the hole they wouldn't have enough to cover the tax liens if they sold all of their assets.

[Sapphire Silk]

Betty's Hubs is trying to have it both ways. He wants the bank to take a risk by giving him a loan, but he doesn't want to show income to support the loan so he doesn't have to pay taxes to Uncle Sam. He's probably yearning for the bad old days of liar loans when that sort of thing was actually encouraged.

He's a bottom feeder. He doesn't want to contribute his fair share to society (pay taxes), but he wants the gravy of easy credit.

Now I'm all for taking advantage of tax deductions one genuinely qualifies for. But this guy sounds like he's hiding income so he doesn't have to report it. That's leaving me pissed off

Bank should foreclose on him.

[gerund]

It very much sounds like you are going to end up forclosing eventually, no matter what. Just choose now or later...

People do this to themselves. Early on, before they are in a deep hole they could choose to take action to stop this. IE have less employees and work harder yourself, negotiate better deals on supplies, talk to an accountant, close the business, sell the business, get a second job so you have more money.

This should be given to every child as soon as they are old enough to understand it, and they should be made to re-read it as they come to points in their life when they need to make decisions about money.

[eltf177]

It very much sounds like you are going to end up forclosing eventually, no matter what. Just choose now or later...

I agree, you have no good choices here...