Back in the last millennium, my secretary worked part time for some elderly farming sisters. They never paid her any money but she got legs of lamb, chickens, fresh fruit and vegetables. The same was true for other people who gave them their time such as the plumber and other tradesmen. All were happy with this arrangement except the inland revenue. When they got wind of the arrangement they insisted that the value in legs of lamb and hours of secretarial services etc were converted to pounds and pence and tax levied. As a result, all were worse off, including the inland revenue, as the sisters put down the legs of lamb as deductible business expenses and paid less tax than under the old arrangement.
