Elderly Couple on benefit have son living there and not declaring it

black-saturn

I know of a couple who are elderly parents on benefit and still have their son living with them. He works full time and is on a very good salary. The son got married and moved to Italy, the marriage broke down and he moved back to England to his mum and dads. But he hasnt declared anything and as far as the tax man is concerned he is still living in Italy and commuting to England once a week (his salary would permit him to do that) and the parents are still claiming benefit and HB. This has been going on for 7 years and the son is still registered to vote in Italy and doesnt pay any English tax out of his earnings.

I have tried to tell them several times that if anyone reports them they will be in serious trouble but they keep insisting it's OK because he is their son and he doesnt pay them any rent.

So what would happen to them if someone did report them?

Broken_hearted

Not sure I think they would keep their benefits but have to pay back the HB.

Ted_Hutchinson

Irrespective of whether or not he pays rent there should be a non-dependant deduction made in respect of both housing benefit and council tax benefit.
The amounts of money they are defrauding the country of are set out here

I can't see any extenuating circumstances here. I can see that initially on his return it could take a while to get sorted but there is no excuse for this continuing. BENEFIT FRAUD - EMail Form

black-saturn

Just as I thought thanks. So would it be them who gets in trouble or him?

CIS

Both, they're claiming benefits fraudulently, and he's party to it and he's also likely to be committing tax fraud and NI evasion if hes got undeclared UK income. (Theres a tax evasion hotline with HMRC).

healy

They would as they are the Benefit claimants and even been told it is fraud.

black-saturn

Yes I've told them several times that they should tell him to look for other accomodation but they keep on saying that he is allowed to live there because hes their son and hes not paying them any rent. I think they still think hes 10.

sarahlouise210

It makes you wonder .... if the son is on such a good salary why would he not get his own place? If he is working full time (not Self Employed) then PAYE tax would be deducted as hs employer would know he was not in Italy..even if HMRC have not yet been informed. If he was returning to England so often he was probably considered resident here even when he was working in Italy..which makes me wonder how he is registered to vote in Italy. Are they Italian? As previously stated they will both be in trouble-him for not declaring income and them for not declaring that they have a non dependant living with them. The Council tax and housing benefit will certainly be recovered. It makes no difference if he is not paying any keep to them..and then again it makes you wonder..if he`s on such a great income why he would not give them any rent. If all this is true then the son is very selfish and lapping up the free lifestyle and the parents probably have no idea they are doing anything wrong..just caring for their son. They really need to be persuaded to listen and take advice that they could be in seroius financial trouble.

black-saturn

He got married 7 years ago and bought a house in Italy (where his wife is from). The idea was that he would stay on in the UK until he found a worthy job in Italy. This has been his story now for 7 years. They have 2 children together who dont speak any English. At first he commuted every weekend to Italy but then they split up and now he commutes there every month or so to see the children. He is registered as living in Italy and registered to vote there and not here. He is paying Italian tax instead of UK tax, but I'm not sure how he got round that.

He owns several properties in Italy which he lets as holiday homes and one in the UK which he also lets. And all this has been done on the back of earning £1,500 per month (manager of big Casino in the West End of London) and living rent free at his parents. They even feed him for free!!! And the annoying thing is that they are always going on about how much he's achieved and how wonderful he is when you can plainly see he's taking them for a ride. He even sniggers at them when they have to count pennies up in front of him and looks down his nose at people all the time.

jenniferpa

Unpleasant. A great pity that he can't be dropped in it without dropping them in it too. I understand that they're committing benefit fraud, but you have to feel sorry for them. Don't casinos do any kind background check?

calleyw

Why not print out anything you can find out on the web and show them. Say you found this while researching something else. And what have been saying is correct.

And find a couple of horror stories from newspapers sites about what has happened to people who have been caught fiddling. I doubt if they are an older couple much will happen. Maybe a slap on the wrists and paying in back at £1 a type thing.

But I would report the son to Inland revenue if you think he is not paying tax. As that will be wake up call to him.

I would not be keen on report the parents for fraud as they are old couple and it would personally do more harm them good. Could even kill them with the stress.

You would think he would help out with paying bills. God there are some selfish people out there. Mind you there are some parents out there like that as well.

Yours


Calley