Child Tax Credit - how much can they take?

takesthemick

LizzieS wrote: »

If you live together, you have to claim as a couple otherwise you are committing fraud.

OK I understand that, yet if my partner gets CA is that still being classed a benefits

No one has answered that just that we have to claim as a couple which I am not disputing

LizzieS_2

takesthemick wrote: »

OK I understand that, yet if my partner gets CA is that still being classed a benefits

No one has answered that just that we have to claim as a couple which I am not disputing

Your partner is not the nrp, so no. CTC is classed as your income. Same in other household.

takesthemick

LizzieS wrote: »

Your partner is not the nrp, so no. CTC is classed as your income. Same in other household.

Then that contradicts itselfs, as they take MY partners CTC into account in her name her own children not mine, yet they wont her CA even though it is for her OWN CHILDREN NOT MINE

How an earth does that work?

She was getting this CTC before I came along, so nothing has changed, yet they take the CTC into account but not the fact that she is on CA

Unbelievable totally unbelievable

Her income is everything not what they want, therefore I do not understand at all why CA isnt, correct she is not the NRP yet she still has to apy for my children just because I move in

shell_542

It's daft but when you moved in, you became a couple and have to claim as a couple for tax credits so it will then be classed as your income too.

I'm not clued up on the CA sorry.

Soubrette

Perhaps a small comfort is that when you working and do pay child maintenance to your ex, there will be a reduction due to your responsibilities towards the children in your current household.

Sou

takesthemick

Soubrette wrote: »

Perhaps a small comfort is that when you working and do pay child maintenance to your ex, there will be a reduction due to your responsibilities towards the children in your current household.

Sou

Its not a small comfort I do not begrudge paying for the upkeep of my children at all

Hence why I am trying so very hard to find work

However I do not believe nor can quite fathom how my new partner is expected to have her CTC reduced to pay for my children when her children are disabled and need constant care,and does not have her CA taken into account as that is also classed as our income is beyond belief, CSA are basically saying that they will take what they want, my partner is not the NRP yet she has to pay for them but she has a qualifying benefit but doesnt matter we dont take that into consideration, wrong wrong wrong

I may aswell apply for the CA's that my partner gets and care for her children and then she wont lose a ridiculous amount of money whilst I seek work for my own children who get there own CTC

13Kent

Been reading these posts with interest - seems we are not alone - I was thinking that's not a bad thing but maybe it is!!

- Just a note about our circumstances we are on the oldest system and pay nearly £600 a month for 2 children. We have 2 of our own, my wages are counted as part of our household income as well as hubby's, as are our child benefit and child tax credit.

The ex has also remarried. Her husbands wages are not taken into account as part of her household income. Neither are her child benefit, child tax credit or working families tax credits. Although she works her income is deemed as NIL as she is on a benefit - working families tax credit is deemed as a benefit so we are told. So in the last few years I have had financial responsibility for her children, she hasn't.

They have had expensive foreign holidays (Disney Florida being one) and had the whole house refurbished (carpets, bathrooms, kitchen etc).

We have tried to tell the CSA that she is living beyond her income - NIL - but to no avail.

We have tried to apply for transport costs as my other half always picks up his kids and drops them back when they visit - this has sometimes been a round trip of 4 hours on a Fri and the same on a Sun. . The CSA's answer to that is "It doesn't change the amount by£*** a week/month (pick a a number - it changes every assessment!!) so we won't change the amount you pay!

To add insult to injury we have been told by a member of the CSA staff who was shocked at the amount we were paying based on our circumstances, that if we were on the new system we would be paying only £288 a month (not £600!!!). :mad: thanks for that!!

I have a lot of sympathy for the PWC who have been left high and dry by partners refusing to pay, and dodging paying by any means.

Unfortunately there are others like us who pay regularly and always have done, and the CSA is making life miserable for these people as it can't get to the others!

After years of fighting talking to MP's trying to get put on new system, etc we are resigned to just keeping quiet and paying - we were fed up with ruining our lives by constantly getting upset about it. We are just waiting for the next few years to go by when we will stop paying and then we will have more money to treat our two children as well.

And if I am completely honest sadly that leaves me torn also as much as I would like my step children to be successful, there is a little part of me that hopes that they do not go on to further education so that we can finish paying the CSA sooner, an have more money to spend on my children who are not getting the opportunities I would like to give them as we can't afford too many luxuries - A horrid way to feel - I hate it!

I understand completely other peoples problems with the PWC ours is just a obstructive and nasty - nice as pie to my face but downright wicked otherwise. On one occasion my OH couldn't pick them up and asked her to arrange to get them to us. (she has not attempted to get the children to us or even meet us half way at any time ever ) to she complained she couldn't afford it as the dog (pedigree of course cost a fortune!) needed an op when we said that's not our problem she said to the kids - it's your choice you either the dog has it's op or you go to see your Dad if you go to see your Dad the dog will have to be put down!! Needless to say we told the kids not to worry and arranged to get the kids at our expense.

My OH wasn't the one at fault - he didn't have an affair or choose to leave his family and home - we got together a while after they split. I resent some threads saying we shouldn't have a family if we couldn't afford it - our children may not have a lot financially but they do get our love and our time - more so from hubby as he realises what he has missed out on with his other kids. - Our kids adore the older ones two, and it is reciprocated, so when we are altogether we are a big happy family. It's just when the older ones are not with us we know the mother is nasty about us - without reason as far as we can see - as someone in an earlier post puts it she gets 3 wages - hers, her husbands and a good proportion of ours - not to mention the child benefit etc - with our money and the benefits she gets we reckon she gets about £1000 a month without getting out of bed - then her and her hubby's wages are on top of that - nice work if u can get it!

Like many others we are counting the days until we stop paying the pwc and can choose to support the children directly not through her - a few years yet, but we are on the downward slope!! Then we will have a much better standard of living.

Just before I sign off - for those of you on CSA 1 - if you (and your other half) take out a pension then the csa count half of what you pay pound for pound as part of your protected income - so if you pay £100 each into a pension fund you get an extra £100 in protected income.(£50 each would be counted) May leave you a bit short, but it may reduce your payments even by a little - a small reduction is a moral victory for us!! In the long run we will get that money back and the pwc won't be able to touch it!! If you are already paying a pension then make sure the csa are taking it into account!

Soubrette

Because the Government and thus the CSA deem it as part of a household income - it is called child tax credit but it is actually household income based on how much is coming into the house and how many children live in it.

Because it is household income it is allocated to the lowest earner.

If you have a problem with this then please take it up with your MP - we have no power to change it, most (if not all on this board) of us disagree with it but that is how it is calculated.

Sou

Edited to add - this post is to takesthemick

takesthemick

Soubrette wrote: »

Because the Government and thus the CSA deem it as part of a household income - it is called child tax credit but it is actually household income based on how much is coming into the house and how many children live in it.

Because it is household income it is allocated to the lowest earner.

If you have a problem with this then please take it up with your MP - we have no power to change it, most (if not all on this board) of us disagree with it but that is how it is calculated.

Sou

Edited to add - this post is to takesthemick

Hmm MP I wrote to him when I was paying my CSA yet was not allowed to see my kids!! Got nothing other than an automated letter have a feeling it will be the same

Yet it still doesnt make much sense as I am not even on her claim and only moved in yesterday!! Have a feeling I may get a quick sharp exit out after this, lol, not laughing really :-( I am at the end of the day I am earning ZILCH, so they are classing me as the lowest earner, even though my partner isnt earning either

Anyway so if I am correct in reading your reply, if I work and get more than my partner, when I do go back to work they will not take her CTC into account?

Is that correct?

Thankyou

Soubrette

takesthemick wrote: »

Hmm MP I wrote to him when I was paying my CSA yet was not allowed to see my kids!! Got nothing other than an automated letter have a feeling it will be the same

Anyway so if I am correct in reading your reply, if I work and get more than my partner, which I am assuming cos I am out of work I am the lowest earner, when I do go back to work they will not take her CTC into account?

Is that correct?

Thankyou

I believe that is the case but kelloggs is the best poster to confirm it.

You could always ring the CSA helpline (don't give any details) and ask for a more definitive answer. Remember to take the name of the person you spoke to).

Our lines are open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm Saturday

If your child maintenance was calculated after March 2003 or you have a general enquiry.

Telephone: 0845 608 0022

You can always ask about a variety of theoretical scenarios.

As to your MP - write to them again and say that this policy of using other children's tax benefits disturbs you so much that unless he pledges support to changin this then you'll not vote for him. If enough people agree strongly with you then it might change his/her mind.

Sou