Regular cash gifts to my mum

ceeforcat

The main problem in the opening post is that 'we want her to see it as a regular gift rather than income' which tends to suggest that isn't and, thus, income I am afraid.

fluffy70

It looks to me as if it would be classed as income by the HMRC as she is doing something in return.... teh suggestion from another poster that you could pay some of her bills instead of cash may be an option as that is then a gift (or would it be classed as payment in kind?) but as she is not receiving an income and you are merely reducing her outgoings I can't see how she can be taxed on it.... could you buy her food shopping for her or something (either by goping with her or by shopping online with her shopping list?)

GoToGal

fluffy70 wrote: »

It looks to me as if it would be classed as income by the HMRC as she is doing something in return.... teh suggestion from another poster that you could pay some of her bills instead of cash may be an option as that is then a gift (or would it be classed as payment in kind?) but as she is not receiving an income and you are merely reducing her outgoings I can't see how she can be taxed on it.... could you buy her food shopping for her or something (either by goping with her or by shopping online with her shopping list?)

Great idea :A. We do for our mother, grocery shopping which is a good excuse for a weekly catch up and utilities so she isn't worried about putting the heating on in winter.

ggtcha

We have a similar arrangement with my mother in law. She has been looking after our kids while we work for the last 5 years, and we've looked down absolutely every avenue available for tax relief both for ourselves and for her. Unfortunately it's always the same answer - if you want to be totally above board it simply has to be declared - and it doesn't matter whether it's by cash or other means of payment.

That having been said - there are more complicated reasons why we can't get away with not declaring it - but if it's a simple handing over of cash to your mum, dishonest though it MIGHT be, I'd have to say keep it to yourselves. Who's looking?? Just tell her not to stick it in a bank account where it may be noticed if ever anyone cares to investigate. If you've already paid the tax on it yourself, bear in mind that if you were paying a REGISTERED childminder or nursery it WOULD have been tax free anyway - as we are entitled to £50 a week of tax and NIC free childcare - you just can't apply it in this situation where a family member is involved (which drives me crazy). Don't pay the tax twice - just tell her to stick it in her pocket and keep hush.

(Sorry if that might have turned into a bit of a rant - sensitive issue!)

TM1976

Firstly, Jimmo gives some good advice here because even if this was taxable income your mother may be able to earn nearly £10k a year before she pays tax depending on her age:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/personal-allow.htm

I simple answer to your question a regular cash gift to your mum is not taxable, however the difficulty with this is that when people usually ask this question they are actually talking about paying someone to do something. Employment income and profits from a trade are taxable.

You state: "My mum helps us out by looking after our children when we're at work. We give her money every month in return"

I suppose the question is; is your payment to your mum contingent on her looking after your kids would you pay it to her anyway?