Well, it is plausible, but it isn't this woman's business unless she works for the IRS, in which case she wouldn't be posting it on Facebook.

Legitimate expenses such as salaries, rent, utilities, materials, and yes, the cost of having the ATM machine, do indeed all reduce the taxable income of the shop.

FWIW, in many shops the manicurists are often not true employees but renting their stations from the owner. So they pay the owner a portion of the money that they take in, or a fixed amount per day, and keep all the rest. Which is pushing your tax-avoidance scheme farther down the line to the workers.

So many restaurants in the city are cash only. If they can get away with it, why not a nail salon?

I am finding a $10.00 minimum at my local dry cleaners and gourmet shop.

My pet peeve is the different price of gas when using your credit card as opposed to paying cash.

I don't know where you live, but around here, there are so many nail salons. I am sure she can find one that still accepts a credit card.

She should ask the business why instead of sharing her uninformed accusations with their potential customers. She sounds like a horrible person.

I would expect to see much more of this occurring. Just as the fees banks charge you to maintain a checking account are skyrocketing upward, so are the fees charged to merchants for accepting credit card transactions. Smaller merchants - like nail salons or beauty salons (and especially those that rent space to independent contractors) - and low profit industries (most restaurants) cannot afford to pay these fees without a significant impact to their bottom line.

Individual transactions fees can be hefty considering the charge.....as much as 12%.....plus there are also flat fees that are the same regardless of the dollar amount of the charge. And then there are monthly minimum fees charged to the merchant if their charge transactions do not reach a certain total for the month or year. Many of these small operations do not come close to achieving minimums and get hit with this fee......which is also significant. Add all these up (and there could be a bunch more fees and charges, depending on the service provider) and these places take a big hit just for the convenience of providing you a cash-less payment option. No wonder so many are opting out.......I would too.

And this should explain why many gas stations discount cash payments. While they may very well make the monthly or yearly minimum and avoid that fee, they would still have to pay the individual credit/debit transaction fee. They build that into what they charge for card transactions. They are just passing on their savings to you IF you opt to pay cash. You should be thanking them rather than criticizing :-))

Hmmm maybe she is trying to avoid the transaction fees. I honestly can't think of a single restaurant that we go to that does not take cards, although we usually pay cash. There are a couple of places (produce market for one) that I frequent that have a minimum to use a card.

Tina, NYC, especially the East Village. When DH and I head down to see our DD's, we have to think about bringing cash! Of course, the restaurants have ATM's close by.

Adding to my previous post: notice how gas stations that have their own credit cards - Shell, Texaco, Chevron, etc. - offer those at the same price as a cash purchase? That's because there are no fees involved with these and very likely some sort of minimal rebate for their acceptance (although I don't know that for sure).

Most of the nail salons in our area offer a 5% discount if you pay with cash. I always do. I don't like putting small charges on a credit card and I don't use a debit card.

I too think the woman should just ask the salon manager instead of posting speculative accusations to a Facebook group. Did she name the salon?

Yes, very easy to under-report income when only cash. From my understanding hair salons have been notorious for this over the years before the onset of credit.

OTOH, I actually prefer to pay cash at the nail salon because I feel more comfortable giving the tip to the tech.

I would NOT use a random ATM at the salon either. That would be the end of my business there if they insisted on it.

You also have to wonder if/how many of the salon workers are undocumented, and if that plays into their decision.

The credit card fees are a cost of doing business, period. It is stupid to miss out on hundreds or thousands of dollars of potential sales because customers want the convenience of debit/credit. I would watch Hotel Impossible on Travel Channel and these mom and pop hotels who are struggling to survive would not take credit cards because of the fees. OTOH, they had an empty hotel because who the heck travels and pays cash for rooms other than places you really don't want to stay.

But, no, I would not post it publicly. I'd just take my business elsewhere.

Thanks for all your comments. Yes, Ida, the name of the salon was publicly posted, which is too bad. I'm working up a reply,

Credit card fees may be a cost of doing business but they are an optional cost, not a fixed cost like rent, insurance or utilities. There is no requirement saying any business has to accept credit cards and if they opt not to because their margins are too small to easily absorb this cost, that is just the way they choose to conduct their business. You can choose to continue to patronize or not - that is YOUR business.

It's so easy to get those Square readers and take plastic at a lower fee than most banks charge. They're ubiquitous at craft shows and flea markets, and I've noticed more and more small businesses-micro businesses, really, using that system than a bank system. They could be independent contractors, but I would almost bet that the ATM machine costs them more than what they'd pay in charges by using Square.

When I was at my nieces wedding I wanted to get a pedicure and my sister sent me to her salon. They were cash only, and since I only had a small amount of cash on me, I had to settle for fewer services than I planned on. I was not given a receipt for the transaction, nor was the money rung up in a till....kind of suspicious if you ask me.

The salon I use I pay with my card, but tip in cash. My tech told me that they never report the cash tips to the owner because he wants a cut and they don't want to pay him.

It may have something to do with tips, also.. maybe. I know at the salon I go to, if you add a tip to a debit/credit transaction it is tracked in their system and is considered reportable income for the stylist for tax purposes. There is no record of cash tips.

Recently, I had to have a repair done to the bumper of my car. When I was getting the estimate, there was a sign that said, payment for services by credit/debit cards would be charged an additional 3.5%. I asked about it because I thought that the Credit Card companies have rules against that and was told that in our state, if a business is registered with the state they can pass that charge onto their customer. He said that at the end of the last two years he had lost over 10,000 in fee payments and as a small business owner felt like he had no other choice. I ended up paying by check because I prefer to support small businesses, but it seems like the Credit Card companies' fees are really putting a hardship on the small business community, so what else can the business owners do? And, it makes me wonder if maybe they are too excessive, after all we all know how fee happy the banking industry can be.

On the flip side, it would be nice if everyone were both honest and willing to pay "their fair" share in taxes. It never ceases to amaze me how some want to enjoy the benefits our tax dollars bring to the community but will do whatever they can to avoid contributing their fair share regardless of how much money they have. Yes, including HIM.

The barbershop Dh and my boys have been going to for 20 years has only ever accepted cash. While there are several bank ATMs nearby, at some point they did put their own ATM in the store but I've never seen anyone use it. I'm sure most of their customers like me plan ahead and make sure to have cash before heading to get a haircut. Never once did I think they were trying to avoid a record of their sales-I think they just prefer to not pay the credit card fees and their customers are fine with that.

One of the reasons that I don't like social media and rating sites like Yelp is that it gives people license to widely disseminate mostly negative opinions about a business and other people read them, and they may have little to do with reality. People just pour out pure bile in some of these posts and it's not necessarily because the business is that awful, it's just because the author did not get their demands met. And maybe their demands were not particularly reasonable. Maybe the customer is just an a--h--e all around. Sometimes when I have read a particularly terrible review, I track down other reviews by the same author, and find that the writer has apparently never had a positive experience at any business in recent history.

Palimpsest, I agree with you, and when I read reviews, I do keep this in mind. As I read our various community Facebook and Nextdoor pages, all I see is complaints about our schools, our township, restaurants, etc. And complaints that seem especially unfair, like this one about the nail place, really get my goat, which is why I am looking into small business payment practices a bit. I did reply to the public post and used some of the info I learned here and elsewhere, and one person thanked me for providing the information - she was one of the people who accused the salon of avoiding taxes - and she admitted that the salon may be on the up and up after all. I'm still waiting for the original poster to acknowledge it and maybe even take her post down.

I'm not on Facebook, but I do know that since I deleted my account, the popularity of neighborhood FB groups has grown. I have also heard from several people that they're little more than a sounding board for the aggrieved and can be filled with the most petty nonsense. I think we are wise to "consider the source" of comments and reviews and do our own research when deciding who (and who not) to do business with. As Pal points out, some folks are determinedly unhappy about everything.

"she was one of the people who accused the salon of avoiding taxes - and
she admitted that the salon may be on the up and up after all."

Quite frankly, even if they are avoiding some taxes, the amount owed by a
nail salon would pale in comparison to the tax avoidance of billionaires
and large corporations. Most of the nail salons in my area are run by
immigrants, who I know send $ overseas to support family, as well as
helping their families who are here in the US. I just can't get too
riled up over it.

I'm guessing they are avoiding taxes on the income from the salon and would take my business elsewhere. At my salon all cards are accepted, and like Pal I charge everything and pay the bill in full at the end of the month. I do tip the nail technician in cash.

I've never had my nails done at a salon, but FWIW, as far as charging the extra 3.5% for credit cards, that rule was change nationally a couple of years ago to make it legal to charge the customer the card transaction fee everywhere in the US, although most businesses don't bother.

I thought the card transaction fee was determined by the merchant's contract with the credit card company.

As I recall. yes, the fee is set by the processing bank and the contract between bank and merchant. In California, it was illegal for a merchant to charge MORE for a credit card transaction. It was okay to give a discount for cash. Not sure if that law has been changed or is more widespread.

Here's the most up to date info I could find about swipe fees. Evidently there are still 9 states that don't allow it, but the Supreme Court was considering a challenge to the CA law that allowed giving a discount for cash. I can't find a final ruling, but then I didn't look very hard:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/10/supreme-court-new-york-credit-card-surcharge-price-speech/96391718/

Whatever happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty and giving the salon the benefit of the doubt? Unless you know they are evading paying taxes.....and I am not sure how you would.........I'd be inclined to just accept the fact that they prefer to be a cash-only business. In fact, it seems rather racist and a specious assumption to think that evading taxes is the only reason these sorts of small business may choose to operate in this manner.

I didn't know that the laws had changed but to be honest, I don't pay much attention. That sign did catch my attention though as 3.5% on a grand is a decent chunk of change, for me at least. The thing that he pointed out though is that it was the machine that would automatically charge the 3.5% to the customer, not the merchant. So his bill and receipt would be for the amount of his services and then the transaction total when the card was run through would be the total + the 3.5%. It seemed like it by passed him entirely.

I do think that regardless of how much a business would owe or not owe is irrelivant and everyone should be paying their fair share. It's not the publics responsibility to turn a blind eye because an immigrant or even a US citizen has other obligations and chooses to avoid paying. They use the benefits of taxes, ie roads, police services and so on so they should be equally responsible. If I knew for sure that a business was purposely doing something to avoid paying taxes, I would definitely choose to take my business somewhere else but there's a lot of room for error when someone just assumes.

I'm not a big fan of social media because I don't think it brings out the best in some people. I think it fueled a lot of what happened in Virginia this weekend. Like minds stirring the pot 24/7.

I was glad to read that this photographer was able to win her case against the newlywed couple who bashed her in the media and ruined her business. Your neighbor should be more careful whether she's right or not.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2017/08/01/they-trashed-their-wedding-photographer-over-a-125-fee-so-a-jury-told-them-to-pay-her-1-million/?utm_term=.3624d275d3dc

It's interesting because people will bandy about words on social media, and rating sites like unprofessional, which is vague at best, but I have also read "unethical" "liar" "incompetent" "completely dishonest" "rip off artist", "worst experience in my life" and one of my favorites "like a wicked stepmother ordering about her ugly stepdaughters (and the women in the office are all ugly".

This is about random people and places like restaurants, hair salons, rental agents, realtors, medical ahd dental practices.

And sometimes these reviews start out with something like "I have been going to____ for a long time and everything has been okay until ______, " and one thing they don't like and they go ballistic. I wonder, do these people return parts of their salary if they slack off at work, or make a mistake?

Really, if the worse experience in your life is that your french fries were cold, I think you have got lot of living to do.

Really, if the worse experience in your life is that your french fries were cold, I think you have got lot of living to do.

^^^This made me laugh.

I always read the one star reviews on Trip Advisor and have yet to find a legitimate complaint or helpful review. They are mostly unintentionally funny. The stuff that people will complain about or hold a place responsible for is shocking.

One raving complaint was it was too cold outside and when the door opened they felt a draft. I don't think they mentioned the food or the service at all.

There are many adults who will complain the staff didn't acknowledge their birthday or anniversary. Go to Chucky Cheese if you need a big deal made about your birthday. I've also seen bitter mentions that the chef didn't come out to speak to them, or the manager spoke to every other table but theirs.

There was a multiple paragraph rant against a museum, ending with the reviewer throwing out the item - in the museum's trash can - that he was trying to donate but the museum wouldn't accept. Boy, he showed them.

I think I trust 3 or 4 stars reviews the most. Five stars can be too gushing and over the top. I'll check 2 star to see if there is an issue that is repeatedly mentioned by reasonable people. The one star people are unreasonable.

She may well be right - the salon and its employees may be avoiding taxes. But that's between them and the IRS and not appropriate for Facebook.

As for the ATM - is the salon owns it, it will make a LOT of money with customers using it! I know a man on Martha's Vineyard who owns a bunch of ATM's - all near places that are pretty much "cash only" places or not near the bank ATM's. He does VERY well on those fees.

My hair salon is cash/check only as is the dog groomer. They have me well trained to be sure to get cash at the ATM that week! I hate writing checks and rarely do so. In fact, I hate having to use my credit card. I'm an ApplePay girl anyplace that takes it! Quick and the safest way to use a credit/debit card.

My nail salon recently changed their practice and charges $1 per transaction. It is annoying as I do most of my transactions by credit card and I do not want to pay an extra dollar. Using a credit card helps me easily track my spending and of course, I love those points. When the salon moved to adding a charge they started out treating it as if it was a punishment for using a credit card, all the signs in the salon were based on them charging a fee - $1 fee for credit card use. The nail techs became very negative about customers using their credit card. I considered changing salons over this. Although there are many nail salons finding a good one can be a challenge so I kept going to them. Trying to remember to bring cash. Someone obviously helped them change their presentation of the charge, now the signs indicate that a discount is given for cash and all the nail techs make sure to mention the discount in a positive light. They did up their price so it evens out to an additional dollar for credit cards but it a much more positive method of making the additional charge. If they had used this approach in the beginning I probably would have not felt so negatively about it. Amazing what a diiference the presentation will make. Do I think the change was related to underreporting their income, no. Could it be happening, of course. A lot of people paid cash before the change, so I am guessing this change was driven by the credit card fees.

I have heard of this too, at a foot massage salon. One price for cash, a higher price for credit. No mention that it is a credit card fee.

Many gas stations have had two different prices for years. Some offer to save you a small percent if you pay in cash, and others offer a better price if you also buy a car wash.

That is true about the gas. Even charge for debit card. Luckily two of our most reasonably priced stations take credit cards, they get my business.

Blue bell, true about many gas stations. I will still use the credit card since it saves me from going inside the building.

I've never used a nail salon, but many/most of the hair salons I've frequented have been cash only. I just assume the one I currently go to is also cash only, and plan accordingly.

My neighborhood FB group has been pretty mellow. It's mostly people seeking out services in the area, or reporting black bear sightings... one of which was less than a quarter mile down the road from me, and I'd just been out, grilling dinner...