united-kingdom employment
Is it legal to pay a company to employ you in the UK?
<p>That is, the company employs you and pays you wages in return for money (even though you do no work for them).</p>

<p>It's not illegal per se. But why are you doing this? You might be money laundering for example, which would be illegal. You might for some reason gain advantages if you fake being employed, and that might be fraud. </p>

<p>For example, if my will says "my lazy son (and not my daughter) will inherit my millions, but only if he can hold a job for one year", then using what you describe in order to cheat the daughter out of her inheritance would be fraud. </p>

<p>One case where it would be illegal tax evasion: I have a company that makes good profits every year and has to pay tax for it. We sign a deal where you pretend to work for me, I pay you a salary which is just below the limits where you would have to pay income tax, and you pay 90% of that salary back to me. Free money in your pocket. My company profits go down, and my tax on company profits go down; the 90% that you returned I put in my own pocket. And that would be tax evasion and produce LOTS of trouble for both of us if caught. </p>

<p>Adding MSalters' comment: Let's say I want to employ but not pay you the minimum wage. Let's say I want to pay £8 an hour instead of £10 an hour minimum wage (I'm making up the numbers). So I pay you officially £10 an hour and you return £2 per hour to me. That would be illegal for me to do; but it isn't quite what you asked for because you are actually working. </p>
