When paying Child Maintenance should the CSA be including expense payments?

Jaybo1

Afternoon All,

This is my first post here so be gentle! I've had a look around but couldn't see another thread covering this so thought I'd start one, apologies if I'm covering old ground!

My partner is paying Child Maintenance for her two children (we have them 3 nights a week) which is straight forward enough, where it gets complicated is that my partner is a carer and travels daily as part of her role. Due to this she earns on average £400 per month expenses to cover her business mileage. I know that this is non-taxable but as it is included in the 'net payment' the CSA are including it when calculating the maintenance owed.

We've discussed this with the CSA but they have stated that 'petrol' isn't a 'living cost' that is considered when looking at your necessary expenditure, they fail to see that this isn't her spending £400 on personal mileage and therefore shouldn't be included. Our solicitor has agreed and told us to query with them again.

Has anyone got experience of this situation or even better a definitive answer for us to speed up this process?

Thanks,

Justin

benefitbaby

Hi, I think that the way CSA calculate the net income to be used in their calculation is:
For CSA claims before 03.03.2003 -
Gross income, less tax, NI and half of any pension contributions = income for CSA calculation.

For CSA claims after 03.03.2003 -
Gross income, less tax, NI and all pension contributions = income for CSA calculation.

I will double check the above tomorrow at work and post if I find anything else.

Is it possible for your OH to discuss with her employer other ways of receiving the mileage expenses so it is not considered as net income?

Jaybo1

Thanks, it seems strange that expenses can be included in this as an 'income' though as you're being paid for costs already incurred. We'd actually be better off without the mileage expenses as she'd save on the maintenance.

System

Expenses should not be included as they are a refund of moneys and not income. They should not appear on a P60 as part of the gross income but are include on the P11D