By Yisroel Meroz, CPA
It started at a Shabbos table. A young Canadian girl building her life in New York was sharing about her week. At some point, the conversation turned to work. Knowing that I am an accountant, she noted, “I get paid off the books.”
I asked a simple question: “How are you getting paid?”
“Cash,” she said.
I pressed a little. “Actual cash? Like, bills?”
She looked at me, slightly puzzled. “No. My boss Zelles me every week.”
And that’s when it became clear to me: this is not an isolated misunderstanding. It is a widespread and dangerous misconception.
This was not a singular conversation. Ask around, and you’ll find it everywhere. Young people, many of them here temporarily, working informal jobs, genuinely believing that if income isn’t documented on a tax form, it simply doesn’t exist.
It does exist.
Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, CashApp. These are not envelopes slipped under the table. They are regulated financial platforms operating within a system that the IRS closely monitors.
Federal rules require payment platforms to report certain transactions. The thresholds and timelines have shifted over recent years, but the direction has never been ambiguous: more transparency, not less.
Every consistent, work-related payment sent through one of these apps creates something that no one seems to be thinking about.
A permanent digital record.
Many who find themselves in this situation aren’t thinking long-term. And that’s understandable. A young woman comes to New York for a year, maybe eighteen months. She’s here to meet people, pursue shidduchim, and build a life. Work is just a way to cover rent in the meantime. It feels informal. Low stakes. Temporary.
But the financial systems she is quietly interacting with are permanent.
A payment received today through a digital app becomes a data point in a financial record that does not expire when the “chapter” ends.
What’s Really at Risk
The issue isn’t only about whether taxes were filed, though that’s serious enough on its own. The deeper issue is exposure.
Unreported income that was visibly received electronically can create a cascade of complications:
• Tax reassessments and penalties, with interest that compounds quietly over time
• Questions about the nature of the employment, including whether the work itself was authorized
• Complications in future visa or immigration processes
When someone gets married and begins the process of regularizing their immigration status through spousal sponsorship, the green card application process involves real scrutiny. Financial history gets examined. Prior income gets surfaced. Questions get asked.
That is not the time to be discovering a lengthy digital paper trail of unreported earnings.
To be clear: working off the books is not the right path, not halachically, not legally, and not practically. But for those who find themselves already in this situation, often out of genuine ignorance of the consequences, ignorance is not a shield.
There is no shame in having made this mistake out of genuine ignorance. But ignorance doesn’t protect you from consequences, and Ahavas Yisrael means sounding the alarm when we see something that could hurt our own.
If you know someone in this situation, someone working off the books, receiving weekly payments to her bank, believing it’s invisible, please share this with them. Quietly. Kindly. Like a friend who actually cares.
For more information, contact Yisroel Meroz, CPA www.merozcpa.com
You didnt have to write this up, but you did. A true act of Ahavas Yisroel.
Paying your taxes is the right thing to do. It’s sad that this discussion even needs to be had.
what’s the problem with working off the books Halachically?
Almost always it reflects a business run in less than ethical ways. Any legit employer cannot even process payroll off the books.
B”H
According to the Torah, you are obligated to follow the laws of the land
As a senior citizen who has always worked “on the books” since I was 16, I would like to share another tidbit with the younger folks reading this. Eventually time passes and its part of life that we all become seniors and for now one of the blessings in this country that we have is called Social Security. For those who don’t know this, when you turn 65, the age may be changing soon but at approximately 65 you can start collecting all that money that came off of your On The Books checks called social security. You may enjoy… Read more »
Hope no one reading this decides to rely on SSI as a retirement plan
Yes, Zelle = digital record but if anyone got spooked reading this – Zelle does NOT report anything to the IRS.
Venmo, PaypPal, and Cashapp only report 20,000+ in business transactions. Most people getting paid off the books are getting paid as friends/family.
Not saying that getting paid off the books won’t come back to bite her – who knows – just saying it’s not a given.