PhD student and working partner and child?!

fatbadger2

Plans_all_plans wrote: »

I believe you have to declare the money you get for studying for child tax credits purposes. One way to find out for sure is to ring them and ask for a form and then you can have a look through to see exactly what needs declaring.

If it was that easy I would. The forms do not include bursary/stipend money info. Thanks.

fatbadger2

nannytone wrote: »

i gave advice about your stipend.......as far as means tested benefits are concerned (CTC is means tested) your stipend will be classed as income!!!

Is that a guess or are you sure?

Jowo_2

fatbadger wrote: »

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).

I'm sorry you find that hard to comprehend.

I'm sorry you find it so hard to comprehend why you are in fact rather privileged and your perception of being hard-done-by is without foundation.

Excluding benefits, you jointly bag 26k per year paying next-to-no tax on this for what amounts to a combination of full time studies and modest part-time work. This is not a poverty level income by any means.

In context, you both earn the salary of what 3 low paid workers earn but who would additionally have to pay full tax on this and who would be eligible for few or no means tested benefits.

You are complaining about the potential impact of your tax free stipend on means tested benefits. For the purposes of means tested benefits, you are highly resistent to being classed as a couple. In order to make a commitment to your relationship and move in with your partner, it has to be 'worth' it in terms of the benefits/tax liability.

fatbadger2

JOWA: "you are in fact rather privileged" :mad:
If we earn more than 3 people on a minimum wage, that's because we/I deserve it and are worth it and have worked towards it. Its called meritocracy.:)

"you jointly bag 26k per year paying next-to-no tax":mad:

Bag? :beer:We didn't win it, we work for it. The first 6K of work is tax free and research PhDs don't pay tax. This urks you and I'm sad about that.:cool:

" for what amounts to a combination of full time studies and modest part-time work":mad:

I have worked in factories on less than minimum wage and lots of other jobs as well as short spells of unemployment:(. Then I saw the light:A, went back to uni, did an access course, then a degree, then a masters, and now I have worked hard enough to be trusted to do research (it's not studying) for medical applications which benefit everyone (because its paid for by tax and charities rather than a medical company). I have worked hard to get here:T, something you knew nothing about before you judged and continue to judge.

"This is not a poverty level income by any means.":mad:

Who said it was? :eek:I just wanted to know if stipends are taken into account for tax credits... :money:

"and your perception of being hard-done-by is without foundation.":mad:

LOL, explaining to you is hard work! :rotfl:I haven't said we are hard done by, we get what we deserve, I just want to plan ahead by knowing how stipends are viewed. It's you that thinks we are "privileged", probably because you think I live off your money. I simply wanted advice about stipends and tax credits. You chose to judge rather than advice, I simply defended my position.

For the record, I get a combination of EU money and charity money to do reasearch so perhaps you should not give to charity and start voting ukip (I suspect this is already the case... I'm judging you now).

fatbadger2

nannytone: "you consider what youre receiving to be 'peanuts', but theyre not your 'peanuts'!"

They are everyones peanuts if you want reseach done into releiving pain and prolonging life. Or maybe we should just leave it to medical companies, they're lovely people, they won't make you pay for new treatments....

"i'd say it was pretty safe to call people who share finances a 'couple' .....
and yes your 'stipend' is income as far as means tested benefits are concerned"

On the second point, the 'income' issue is far from clear as other more considered posts have shown, this is simply your opinion.

On the first point, look at this from Independant Tax Manual IN1425, CTC for unmarried couples...
"This page looks at three of the factors:

• Membership of the same household - A couple are unlikely to live together as husband and wife unless they live in the same household. But absences caused by work, visits to relatives and the like do not mean they are not living together as husband and wife.

• Stability of relationship - A couple are not living together as husband and wife if they have a very brief or occasional relationship. When a couple first live together it may be clear at the start that they are living as husband and wife. For example, when the woman takes the man's name and bears his child. But in other cases it may take more time before such a close relationship develops.

• Life time bond is not essential - One of the main features of a marriage is that the couple bind themselves to each other for life. An unmarried couple may not make such a formal commitment, but they can still live together as husband and wife. They do not have to intend to stay together permanently. It is enough if they intend to stay together for the foreseeable future."

sarahevie

I'm in my write up year for a PhD.

This year for me is unfunded (it's my 4th year) but prior to this I was getting an ESRC maintenance grant for PhD (for three years.)

My OH works for the minimum wage but he does work 52 hours a week to try and increase our income.

I find tax credits frustrating for people in our situation.

The stipend definitely counts towards income, as I believe it should, as in my case I was earning £18290 tax free.

Yet on the other hand you are not classed as employed so you aren't accuring class 1 national insurance contributions so cannot claim stat maternity pay, job seekers allowance and those sort of benefits.

You also aren't entitled to anything towards child care because you are not employed.

We are entitled to Working family tax credits, child benefit, child tax credits and this was the same when I was receiving my stipend. We get a slightly higher rate now but not a great deal more.

However, if I earned the same as a paid employee I would have had 80% of my childcare paid, more working family tax credits, stat maternity pay.

On the plus side, I work evenings and weekends on my phd when my OH is at home and both sets of grandparents look after my daughter when I need to go to uni so doing a PhD has enabled me to be a stay at home mum whilst getting a qualification, get on the housing ladder and I'm a lot happier than a lot of my friends.

tooldle

Stipends do generally include maternity pay. There is generally a move to 3+1 studentships, giving stipend and fees in the writing up year.
On the childcare front the University in which I work, runs a creche in which rates for students are far lower than those for staff. Not a bad deal really.
In response to the original poster, the stipend will be counted as income. This is really only fair, particularly as stipends paid out in my area range from 13K to 20K.

fatbadger2

sarahevie wrote: »

The stipend definitely counts towards income, as I believe it should, as in my case I was earning £18290 tax free.

Hi, Thnaks for the info but are you sure they don't disregard your stipend income? I've underlined the salient points.

This is from Cardiff uni advice:
"Does student funding affect tax credits?
Generally, only income that is taxable affects tax credits but there are some exceptions
for some student funding.
For undergraduates the LEA Adult Dependants Grant is treated as income for tax
credits. Other student funding is disregarded.
Postgraduate research council awards, scholarships and studentships are usually
disregarded. Any amount of career development loan or professional studies loan
in excess of tuition fees would usually be treated as income."

and this is from the NUS:
"With regard to student income, the following are all disregarded: Higher Education:
• grants or loans for tuition fees;
• maintenance grants;
• Special Support grants;
• Young Students' Bursaries;
• the Higher Education grant
• loans from the Student Loan Company;
• the childcare grant;
• the school meals grant;
• the travel, books and equipment grant;
• the disabled students’ allowance;
• travelling expenses;
• postgraduate studentships from any research council, the British Academy, or the SAAS;
• social work bursaries;
• NHS bursaries, dependants’ allowances and travel expenses;
• Scottish Health Department bursaries;
• Access to Learning Fund grants; and
• hardship grants."


I hope this helps, cheers.

sarahevie

The stipend is income.

It is classed as 'other income.' I know of people who don't declare it, as it doesn't 'show' as you are not paying NI and tax on it, so when you get your P60 at the end of the year it says income 0.

However, we have always been upfront about our situation and have sent in the monthly stipend pay slips along with my other halfs and both P60s.

Also this is why now I am in write up year my working family tax credits, family tax credits have increased because my pay has decreased by £18290.

Stat maternity pay is definitely not covered by a stipend, nor is mat allowance, as you are not accruing the class 1 national insurance contributions to provide for it. However, many research councils now pay mat pay in the same way they pay stipends. I know the ESRC have recently upped theirs from 4 months additional stipend to 6 months.

As for creches at universities it varies greatly the provision provided. It wouldn't work for us as my uni is 2 hours away from where we live.

welshmoneylover

fatbadger2 wrote: »

"you jointly bag 26k per year paying next-to-no tax":mad:

Bag? :beer:We didn't win it, we work for it.

I have to ask... if you have that much money coming in per annum, why on earth do you wish to claim means tested benefits?