Q. I'm a student who also works and needs more money. I've been offered an under-the-table job that pays cash.

A. I used to have a boss who would proudly proclaim that he paid the U.S. government before he paid his employees. It was his way of saying you never want to stiff Uncle Sam on taxes because it could lead to big problems.

Taking a job that is off the books and pays cash poses a number of issues for workers, including what happens if you are injured or aren't paid what you are owed.

"Once an employee takes money under the table they put themselves at risk," said James Hardway, special assistant to Hawai'i Department of Labor Director Nelson Befitel. That includes issues that arise if the employee wants to make claims for workers' compensation, temporary disability payments or unemployment insurance.

An employee also may have problems if she needs help collecting for overtime or receives less than minimum wage, Hardway said. Filing a complaint would turn up the fact that she hadn't been paying state or federal taxes.

"Turning in the employer basically means turning in themselves," Hardway said. It may lead to questions from the state and Internal Revenue Service over nonpayment of income and other taxes.

Hardway said he wasn't aware of any estimates on the number of under-the-table workers in Hawai'i, but said anecdotal information points to some employees being paid off the books in restaurants, at construction sites and by catering companies.

In some cases people in the United States on student visas that don't allow employment will accept work that pays under the table. Students take considerable risk doing that and should look for legal alternatives if they need money.

Depending on your grades and number of credits you take, you might qualify for scholarships or grants. You can also seek federally insured student loans. The University of Hawai'i, Chaminade University, Brigham Young University-Hawai'i and Hawai'i Pacific University maintain financial aid offices that can help with information about loans.

Hawai'i residents that are tempted to take illegal jobs should look to other ways to increase earnings. For example, you can boost the number of exemptions for tax withholding purposes on your W-4 form at your current job if you got a large refund last year. That should yield extra take-home pay.

"We always advise people if they get a big refund to adjust their exemptions to get it down," said IRS spokeswoman Judy Monahan. The IRS has a "withholding calculator" on its www.irs.gov site to help people figure this out.

Reducing expenses is preferable to taking an illegal job. There are thousands of ways to cut back on spending. You could set a higher deductible for your automobile insurance, pay off credit card balances to avoid late fees and interest, and cut restaurant meals out of your diet in favor of home-cooked food.

You should also contemplate life without trips to convenience stores to buy sundries, purchasing no-name brand products instead of national brands and buying generic drugs. You can cancel magazine subscriptions and read magazines at libraries.

Students should consider buying used textbooks from Web sites such as Alibris.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble's BN.com or eBay.

The Internet has a number of useful sites to help set budgets and cut costs and can be reached by typing in "money saving tips" or "making a budget" into a search engine.

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.