PhD student and working partner and child?!

fatbadger

Present position:
Her - working 16 hrs/wk, has one 9 y/o child, earns £9600 plus £3600 of other income.
Me - PhD research student, full time student recieving a tax free stipent from a research council worth £13000/yr plus I work for the uni approx 4 hrs/wk giving £3000/yr extra which is below tax allowance.

Currently she claims as a single parent and gets approx £2000/yr child tax credit plus approx £250/yr working tax credit.

We want to get married.... do I declare my tax free stipend? Will we be worse off?

***Many many thanks if you can throw some light on this***

Oldernotwiser

Do you live together at present?

fatbadger

No, but we pool all our resouces and are a couple. We just want to make everything legal and proper.... but we can't afford to do that if we are worse off as a result, we are struggling as it is.

Thnaks

nannytone_2

if you are already pooling your resources (money) you are a couple and by claiming as a single parent your g/f is commiting fraud.

Oldernotwiser

I agree that you should already be claiming as a couple. Think of the money you will save when you only have one household to maintain!

fatbadger

My question is about PhD stipend money.

Should I declare it?
If so, is it used to calculate CTC?
Is it ignored becasue it is 'unearned income'

Someone mentioned fraud : when would you suggest talking to the tax office, when you first kiss or share a holiday or when you move in? Or maybe when you...

So far the tax credit people have said: "yes it is income and counts", "no it isn't income and doesn't", and "we can't tell you, just fill in the forms and you'll find out".

None of these answersgive us the confidence get sorted. Can anyone enlighten?

Jowo_2

A marriage certificate isn't the sole pre-requisite of being considered as a couple for the purposes of means tested benefits - financial sharing and support is also a key factor. Also, what is considered tax free for the purposes of HMRC is not necessarily the same as being ignored by the DWP as income.

Ignoring the benefits your partner gets - WTC, CTC, CB plus any benefits she may also get that you haven't detailed such as Council tax discount, CSA. free school meals and LHA, for example, you jointly have at least a 26k income from earned employment and stipend. This is extremely generous given that you both work part-time and is more than some couples get when they work full-time.

The Entitled To website will calculate your joint household's eligibility for means tested benefits.

Don't forget to factor in the savings in bills that you currently pay across two households which could well be better off, plus the potential risk of your current partner's prosecution for benefit fraud where she may have been required to have detailed the financial support you've provided and had your income included in her benefit claims.

Download the Budget planner spreadsheet which will make clear to you the savings you could enjoy across things like groceries, household insurance, water, council tax, rent, energy which are likely to significantly decrease when you combine the households.

nannytone_2

Jowo.........just what i was thinking but so much more eloquently put!

fatbadger

Thanks. for the replies.

However, I take exception to the condescending tone of Jowa and nannytone. Making judgment on people's income that they have made public for advice and saying it is "extremely generous" is not cricket all, it sounds mean, especially as you get this help up to £60K. We earn more per hour becasue we have worked harder to get to that point, I do research that may prolong your life one day, but I get less money than a bin man (that's not meant as a slur, just a comparison). My work is not a tax free, work free holiday, so please don't tell me I work part time and earn generous amounts. I get what I deserve. Also, we are not fraudsters, or even if we were, its peanuts compared with Sir Fred Goodwin and co. And we don't have 'old money' from parents houses or any other advantage (except our brains).

And as for "potential risk of your current partner's prosecution for benefit fraud"... as I tried to explain, *at what point do you call someone a couple* after 1 day, 1 week, 6 months?? and when do you phone DWP to tell them? We have relatively recently become a couple, we want to get married as a sign of commitment, and we want to tell DWP. That is not a bad thing. But we don't want to be worse off becasue of it.

I'm sorry you find that hard to comprehend.

Oldernotwiser

fatbadger wrote: »

And as for "potential risk of your current partner's prosecution for benefit fraud"... as I tried to explain, *at what point do you call someone a couple* after 1 day, 1 week, 6 months?? and when do you phone DWP to tell them? We have relatively recently become a couple, we want to get married as a sign of commitment, and we want to tell DWP. That is not a bad thing. But we don't want to be worse off becasue of it.

I'm sorry you find that hard to comprehend.

And we're sorry that you find this hard to comprehend.

If I were doing something illegal I would be happy to be warned about this so I could regularise the situation. I would also worry about marrying someone whose idea of commitment could be bought for a few pounds and who was putting me at risk of a criminal record and a custodial sentence.

You have also ignored my point that you will be far better off when you move in together and no longer have to pay to maintain two households. It's not rocket science, even for a PhD student!

nannytone_2

i'm not passing judgement.
but if you told the powers that be exactly what you'd told us then you'd be in trouble!
you consider what youre receiving to be 'peanuts', but theyre not your 'peanuts'!
i'd say it was pretty safe to call people who share finances a 'couple' or do you also share finances with your neighbours/people at work? you tell the DWP when you start 'sharing resources'
you cant have it all ways.
and yes your 'stipend' is income as far as means tested benefits are concerned.