I started it, let's talk about it... - Page 6

I have mentioned this awhile back, but in my last business, the IRS seized my books (in a nice way) in a fraud case of another business. They looked at many businesses that he worked with. In their investigation of him, they found cash transactions with my business. The person being investigated had not recorded all of his cash transactions, but I had recorded every penny. People have always laughed at me for recording cash transactions, but that day, I was so relieved to know that I had followed the rules to the letter of the law. What are the odds of this happening? I would have said, "never". If the IRS finds any unreported or improperly (on purpose) reported income, they can go back to "the day you were born" (quote) to find more unreported income. So you can sit back and say, "I don't have to follow the law". And then one day your little cake business gets a knock on the door, and you will wish that you did the right thing. If you have unreported income, the lawyer alone will probably take more than you have ever made. I don't think the IRS will look for illegal cake businesses, but this business being investigated was much bigger than mine. My books (and others) were used to show he commited tax fraud. But I am not so sure that if I had unreported income I would have been at least audited and fined.

I do not choose to do business by looking over my shoulder.

My husband is an auditor for a commercial finance company, and in the course of auditing companies' books he finds all kinds of stuff. That then leads to "bigger" things, shall we say. You never know what will lead to someone knocking on your door to get information.

Playingwithsugar, I couldn't think of any more at the time. I know hairdressers in my area turned in all of the improperly licensed cosmetologists when the nail craze started. And I have been in the construction industry for years. If a contractor finds out that an unlicensed person got a job that he bid on, that phone call is made right then. I think construction and baking are similar in that the general public assumes the person has proper licensing and insurance if they look like they have a business. How many people have asked to see bakers' licenses and insurance policies? Again, it comes back to public safety.

Oh crap!!! You got me on that one too! I cut all my home boys and home girls hair! And I game my mom a make-over and took her picture to put it on a dating site once a few years ago. I guess that make me an illegal hairdresser, cosmetologist, photographer, and consultant. I also proof read her book (it was crap) I guess I am an illegal editor!! (The HORROR!) And DH massages the tension out of my shoulders and dug a french drain out around our pool, so he is an illegal massage therapist and landscaper. And when my Grandma ate too much on Thanksgiving I walked with her that evening, so I am also an illegal personal trainer.

And if we are going to go that far, it is illegal to practice being a Dr. without a license, even if it is free and you just give it away, same as legal council, so therefore it should also be illegal to practice cakes for free. Not even in your own home. After all, you would never take Timmy's tonsils out in your kitchen, so you shouldn't be able to bake him a cake either! And I guess I'm having take-out tonight, because I don't have my food service license.

Oh, so you charge your children to cut their hair? And your husband charges you for a massage? And you charged your grandmother to take a walk with her?

And practicing medicine or law for free would be a completely different scenario than giving away cakes for free. It's a simple matter of the law- you must have a license to practice medicine or law, regardless of whether you charge or not, but you are not required to have a license to give away cakes.

Y'know when people pass me speeding,
I say, "Go 'head, hurry, go get your ticket."

I read this far and just had to stop to reply.

Isn't running money from an illegal business through a legal business money laundering? Whooo-weeee, you are setting yourself up for a big heartache. You are risking everything to bake the occasional cake. I beg you to consider this: if you are caught running that money through there, will you think it was worth it to lose your accounting licensing?????

You'd have no cake biz and no bookeeping biz, either. If you think you can't afford to go legal now, what will you do for money when the bookeeping biz is gone?

Cheatize, I was going to mention that but this situation is running expenses, not cash, through a legal business. If it is not money laundering, I am sure they have a word for it.

-K8memphis
Y'know when people pass me speeding,
I say, "Go 'head, hurry, go get your ticket"

'Nuff said!

I started off illegal, but I wasn't aware of it until I found this site. It just never even occurred to me to look into the legalities of it because I was only making cakes for friends and family. But now that I'm aware, I'm in the process of becoming legal, and will be completely legal by the new year. I WANT to advertise and get more business.

I really don't have a problem with people going the illegal route. Assuming they are aware of the laws, they made the choice and will have to live with any consequences that may come of it.

While I tend to agree with most of the comments made on this...what drives me crazy is that just because "you're baking illegally" automatically means that you're putting out an inferior product, that is "thisclose to making someone sick" Just because you're baking without insurance or license does not mean you don't care about your product, or its safety.

I was once an illegal baker, until June of this year when Michigan passed the Cottage food law. I was and IS darn careful on cake production. Clean as you go was and IS my motto. I am not sorry for doing cakes illegally. I would've never been able in a million years to do cakes NOW without doing it illegally first. Without HANDS ON training, (classes maybe, or perhaps working as a decorator prior to in a "real" bakery or heck, I dunno, doing it, gasp, illegally) the fact is most people can't. One poster here has a great signature line, something about, "dont judge a person without walking in their shoes"

I know here in Michigan, it is illegal to drive my car without wearing a seatbelt. Why? If I am hurting absolutely NO ONE with my choice, why should the government tell me I have to do it? To line their pockets even further when I get pulled over without my buckle on. (note, I DO wear my seatbelt, and never been pulled over for anything, but just trying to make a point). Sometimes laws are stupid...yes they're there, so you should try to do your best and abide by them. But you shouldn't, ever, as a human being try to degrade another. It is not the "nice" thing to do. Remembering my momma always told me, "Don't say something if you dont have anything nice to say". People in this world are totally forgetting the humane factor here. But my momma also taught me if someone throws the first punch, I have the right to swing back!

I wish people that commenting wouldn't get their nickers all in a bunch saying rude things. Facts is one thing, but there is no reason under God to be so cruel and heartless.

Seatbelts enable you to maintain better control of the car in an accident or in a skid... in certain cases, helping to minimize damage and to avoid colliding with another vehicle or someone else's property. Again, public safety and that is why it is not your choice.

Hey SCP, I forgot to tell you that you get the prize for the heaviest requirments I've ever heard of in order to open your shop. OMG.
B.R.U.T.AL.

I mean in this case I could recommend my county as an easier alternative--I got my fire marshall to sign off on no fire suppression system. I have a Deluxe cake oven and I use induction burners &, microwave. But I gotta have the floor drain and the plumbing.

Wow you have gone the extra ten miles to get your place. Hats off.

Yep, sure.

Whatabout the people who die in cars because they cant get their seatbelts off?

(Sorry, daughter of a fireman here. You dont even want to know how many people have died in cars who would've been FINE if they werent wearing their seatbelts. Ever hear a man BEGGING you to get him out of the car screaming bloody murder and you can't do anything about it in time?)

Two sides to every. single. story.

They are all called accidents--the ones where seatbelts help the ones when they don't help. Life is risk.