Self employed tax credits / gift of income

joyfull

I'm self employed, working 30hrs / week with very low income & receiving maximum working tax credits.

My mother gifts me £2000 a year to help out.

I understand that a maximum of £3000 per year can be received as a gift which does not need to included as income on my tax return form. (I phoned the revenue peeps several times to check this out). I therefore do not declare this on my tax return form.

Can someone please confirm that this is correct?

Regarding tax credits.
I use the figures arrived at on my tax return form (ie. not including the £2000 gift) when applying for my tax credits. I'm now concerned as a tax credit advisor has just told me I should be declaring this gift as income when applying for tax credits.

Can someone please advise is this is correct. When is a gift counted as a gift or income? Confused!

Thanks in advance for your help.

joyfull

Bumping this up.........

Anyone?

sandraroffey

dont know the real answer to this but to my way of thinking, a gift is a gift and i wouldnt have even told them about it. if its a gift why do they need to know.

dankerrysmum

i would call it a gift to your children ,open up a bank account for your kids and put it in there ,i aggree i wouldnt even tell them about it ,as far as they are concerned its a gift to your kids from their grandma.

joyfull

Thanks dankerrysmum, however this is a gift for me from my mum.

Just duplicated this thread on 'saving tax' section of website to fish for more answers. - joyfull

[Deleted User]

Hi Joyful, for tax credits purposes you do not declare the gift. If you earn any interest on savings you may need to declare the income.

I have worked for TCO for some time and occasionally there sems to be a bit of confusion over this issue but I can assure you that it is not included.

joyfull

Subsoniccoyte - thanks very much. I always declare interest - no problem there. This is a huge relief, as had I followed the incorrect advice of the TCO on the phone my TCs would have been reduced.

Why, oh why do these people not give out corect info.

Thanks, again.

joyfull

Why , oh why can I not spell correct correctly?