Child Support and Bonus Payments, Ltd Companies, etc

clearingout

Soubrette wrote: »

to advice: I cannot comment on your self employed status, I have experience of dealing with an ex who has a Ltd company. If you are the director and sole shareholder of a company then you are deemed to have the ability to control the amount of income you receive. Dividends do count on CSA2 in this situation (this was made very clear at my Tribunal) but the loophole is that you do not have to declare them, same as salary rises etc. If you decide to pay a minimal child maintenance and your PWC disputes this then the PWC will almost certainly fail at the CSA stage (they are looking for an easy life). If your PWC is persistent then eventually your case will go to a Tribunal. For this tribunal you will be expected to provide all of your personal and business accounts (both banking and accounting), you will also be expected to provide all your credit card and loan accounts (again both personal and business). You will also be expected to provide details of all contracts - my ex was asked to provide the last 3 years worth of everything as I recall.

All of this information is made available to both parties ie both the NRP and the PWC. At the Tribunal there was both a Judge and an accountant. A full day was allocated so believe me they go through these accounts with a fine toothcomb.

At my Tribunal the NRP had to explain several payments going in and out his personal account as well as some business transactions. I was allowed to ask him questions and of course because I had access to all of his financial affairs I was able to come preprepared.

The Tribunal has the power to 'deem' an income. It seems my NRP felt that if he stopped taking dividends then only his salary would be assessed (minimum wage of course), sadly he found this was not the case, the Tribunal looks at the whole picture and for a one man band ltd company it is hard to escape the fact that you are the company.

However, there are legitimate expenses you can claim and these do not come under the purview of child support, so if you really are renting then this is an expense, you are able to rent a proportion of your house (most mortgage companies don't mind if you are a service company) and claim part of the utility bills. None of these expenses will count as income but they must be real.

Finally the PWC can ask for Tribunal after Tribunal, every year it can be claimed you live beyond your means, have the claim turned down by the CSA and then go through the whole rigmarole of revealing your financial situation to an ex for a Tribunal. Apart from time the PWC doesn't have a lot to lose.

There are is at least one person on this board who has managed through tenacity and knowledge to have the NRP pay out substantial backpayments for child maintenance, the NRP I believe was self employed but I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

There are legitimate ways to avoid paying child maintenance at all but they involve either having no income or emigrating and living somewhere with no remo agreement.

Sou

thanks for this information sou - I am getting increasingly frustrated by my ex's ability to evade the CSA through his ltd company and the CSA's apparent lack of balls when it comes to grabbing him and getting on with it! He has a DEO set up on his own salary through his own company (a salary much lower than what he earns but I wouldn't chase for anything else if he would just pay that amount - it would help my situation enormously) and isn't paying it and the CSA just don't seem to know what to do next. I have to be in this for the long-haul, don't I?!

pd001

Soubrette wrote: »

I see pd001 has made an appearance, for my own peace of mind could someone please link to a post where he has been at all helpful or supportive of a woman (I'm willing to take a female NRP at this point) as I really really want to think more of him than I do

And the dubious speedster - the frugal Dad who buys shoes from ebay to save the pennies yet appears to be operating a multicompany shady deal all in order so that he can decide how much child maintenance his undeserving ex should get (no doubt he is also one of these honourable parents who is putting money by for his daughter). Of course he'd like a PM to give his advice, some of it is distinctly illegal.

I'm sorry to sound so jaded on your thread Comedy but it saddens me when the usual suspects make an appearance to say the same tired things.

We are all here to help, in our different ways. Some people find my posts helpful and some dont.

The same applies to your posts, speedsters posts..everybodys posts in fact. We cant please all of the people all of the time.

By the way, I am working on your peace of mind

Edit...maybe this will make you feel better
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/28574195#Comment_28574195
post 15

speedster

clearingout wrote: »

thanks for this information sou - I am getting increasingly frustrated by my ex's ability to evade the CSA through his ltd company and the CSA's apparent lack of balls when it comes to grabbing him and getting on with it! He has a DEO set up on his own salary through his own company (a salary much lower than what he earns but I wouldn't chase for anything else if he would just pay that amount - it would help my situation enormously) and isn't paying it and the CSA just don't seem to know what to do next. I have to be in this for the long-haul, don't I?!

ltd are a total minefield for the csa.

is there no chance of a private agreement with the ex?