MSE News: Are you a child benefit loser? Full Q&A

pennylikespounds

Oh and did I mention how pants this whole policy is .....

Now if you earn over £100K and take home around 6K a month then yes maybe it is kind of fair but then what if you have 20 children?

Ian Duncan Smith suggested that the condems aim to continue to pay benefits to existing people who have never worked. These parent/s may have five children or any amount. However, once the policy is introduced they will stop benefit for families or single parents who decide to have more than 2.

Likewise why can't they also keep Child benefit for existing families who earn over the losing threshold, as it stands now. If families decide to have more children in future then there will be no more fresh payments?.

princessdon

pennylikespounds wrote: »

Oh and did I mention how pants this whole policy is .....

Now if you earn over £100K and take home around 6K a month then yes maybe it is kind of fair but then what if you have 20 children?

Ian Duncan Smith suggested that the condems aim to continue to pay benefits to existing people who have never worked. These parent/s may have five children or any amount. However, once the policy is introduced they will stop benefit for families or single parents who decide to have more than 2.

Likewise why can't they also keep Child benefit for existing families who earn over the losing threshold, as it stands now. If families decide to have more children in future then there will be no more fresh payments?.

Incorrect - there will be a £2k a month cap from when UC comes in (regardless of the number of children). There is no current plans for 2 children of any kind (musings yes, plans no)

However, there are STILL problems with this. Working families will NOT be affected so all they need to work is the basic number of hours (which is no where near the hours that most people work). So they can work in a month what your OH or you will work in a week (I know hours expected for high salaries) for 2 people!

You need to channel your anger into the unfair systems (pt workers with huge top ups) and dual income earners who have £8100 extra Tax Free plus more at basic rate.

I'm not saying I don't agree with you in part, but your arguments need to focus more on other areas.

My mortgage is low (if I didn't overpay) and I mean low, I/We SHOULD lose it, of that there is no doubt. A single parent earning £60K in London with childcare shouldn't.

pennylikespounds

musings, hot air all the same and 2k a month cap!! what is the equivalent in gross pay, £35k per year (ish)
what if you had triplets or quads and you had your childcare tax credits withered off completely over the last few years then lose all your CB. you don't choose to have 3 or 4 children you went to have 1, wouldn't that be an anomaly? I'm sure there are others.

I am aware of many other injustices in the financial system such as the work it less, easier life, gain more in tax credits.
just curious princess what you do for a living as you seem so very knowledgable?

princessdon

pennylikespounds wrote: »

musings, hot air all the same and 2k a month cap!! what is the equivalent in gross pay, £35k per year (ish)
what if you had triplets or quads and you had your childcare tax credits withered off completely over the last few years then lose all your CB. you don't choose to have 3 or 4 children you went to have 1, wouldn't that be an anomaly? I'm sure there are others.

I am aware of many other injustices in the financial system such as the work it less, easier life, gain more in tax credits.
just curious princess what you do for a living as you seem so very knowledgable?

Most knowlegdge is from here and in part work. I work with what the current government call "troubled families". Those known to social services, the police, school absentee systems, drug and alcohol services etc. Many who have child after child with no intent to ever work.

They WILL get the 2K cap hit (far better than before but not enough, this needs to be lowered), BUT the loophole is work! So all they need to do is work 16 hours a week and get MORE.

It needs changing. I have families who get £50K adjusted tax salary per annum!

Meanwhile I and my OH work (like you do) have what is considered a large family (though not all are my own biological children) and get nothing.

My friend is 1 reason I can't support the reduction fully. He is a widower, with very high childcare (3 under 5 at the moment). His childcare is extreme! He will be in poverty.

Meanwhile families like me with dual income won't. (I lose it, but I'd feel the same if I got it). It needs to be HOUSEHOLD income and added to Tax Credits.

Just to add

I also think Tax Credits need to be just that - a Credit of Tax Paid. Eg a worker pays £600 a month and gets say £300 pm back.

At the moment they are nothing like a credit for most, but a benefit that has no bearning on tax paid. Families who work 16 hrs don't pay any tax, but get huge amount of Tax Credit per child. Families just over the threshold (with mortgages in high/negative equity) are not entitled. The current system isn't fair (that is my opinion anyway).

pennylikespounds

Thanks for responding to such a personal question, I was curious because as I thought You work in a similar field to what I used to. Hence why I'm not clued up on all the changes as have changed jobs and I'm lazy on my research.

I feel for your friend the new policy is just too sweeping , I suppose Mr Duncan Smith had to say what he did this week about £13'000 a year equalling poverty as outdated. Many families who receive massive tax credit claims and hardly work or those fully on benefits with more than 2 children receive way more than this when you factor in ALL living costs. Makes him look bad if he calls the families of the striving breadwinners on the minimum wage impoverished as he therefore ends up tarring them with the same brush as the work shy savvy.

I'm from a single parent family, mother widower never worked for 17 years she had income wise on benefits just above the minimum wage because when she worked she lost all her help with rent, school meals etc and was worse off and could literally not afford to work despite having low rent to the council. Being low skilled she was trapped. However, today with tax credits and being able to have a lovely work/life balance and still take home a huge whack, being on benefits seems the way to go. as long as you have a child you get the passport to the lifestyle.
It's the single people genuinely unemployed on the dole I feel for as they get naff all.

Does the 2K cap include CB, rent and CT?

slipons

philj22 wrote: »

I'm astounded in this age, to be asked to provide details of my wife's personal financial affairs - surely this can't be right?

The CB helpline tells me "I have to find out" whether my wife claims CB or not, what happens if she chooses to decline to share that information?

Can anyone advise me on how to proceed if I cannot provide an answer?

This is a very interesting point, In the situation where a partner will not disclose their Financial information to someone who is potential liable for the High Income Child Benefit charge, HMRC have published some guidelines on how to ask them for the information.

You can ask if your partner was entitled to receive child benefit in a given tax year and if your adjusted net income was higher that your partners. HMRC can only reply very specifically

"'Yes/No, [insert partner's/ex-partner's name] was/was not entitled to receive Child Benefit for [insert specified year]' &
that based on latest information available to HMRC:
either that 'the income for [insert partner's/ex-partner's name and the year for which the information is being provided] was higher than the figure provided by you', or
'the income for [insert partner's/ex-partner's name and the year for which the information is being provided] was not higher than the figure provided by you'"


The information provided by HMRC would be insufficient to self assess the High Benefit charge, not only because HMRC are not disclosing whether the spouse is actually claiming it, but also because HMRC is not disclosing how many children the spouse is claiming for. One might assume that he/she is claiming for them all, but that would just be an assumption.

So if my spouse refuses to tell me how much she is claiming (and we do not have a joint bank account) and I self assess nil, HMRC might issue an assessment for the HB charge. If I appeal to the Tribunal, would HMRC be required to show their hand and reveal details of the child benefit claimed by my spouse? Or, if they are required to keep it confidential, would they be unable to prove their case?

HMRC claim they are legal under a clause of the 2005 Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act (CRCA). Specifically, subsection (2) (a) of paragraph 18, on confidentiality, says the general rule against disclosing taxpayers' information does not apply if it "is made for the purposes of a function of the Revenue and Customs".

However for some reason they have stopped short of disclosing enough information in standard process, perhaps the CRCA clause would be used at a tribunal!

mooeysmum

the changes to CB have gotten me slightly irked. We are a second time round, unmarried family. I have a daughter who lives with me and my partner and he has a son who he has shared custody of. I work part time as my partner works very long hours to earn his 50-60k wage package and even working full time I would earn half that. My partner will now be forced into paying a tax for my daughter to live in his house while his ex partner will continue to claim full benefit for his son at her house. My daughters 'father' pays no maintenance for her as decided by the CSA and the child benefit went towards her school extras. I understand the idea of not giving benefits to higher earners but the way it is being conducted feels highly unfair. my partner has no legal rights over my daughter but is now financially responsible for her whereas her own father isn't. I'm also slightly annoyed by the fact that my partner will receive a letter relating to MY income and benefits.Come to think of it, I'm slightly annoyed by the whole thing as I'm the lowest earner of all the parents in my little extended family and it's my benefit and my daughter who are affected.

lapat

I have received this letter due to the fact that I earned over the threshold last year. I spoke to HMRC today to try and get advice as I don't know if would hit he threshold year on year as my earnings are £35k approx with bonus and overtime which last year took me over. And basically they didn't really have a clue what to advise. My dilemma is I don't want to get into the self assement pit if I don't have to so any advice would be great fully appreciated on what you would do. And on another note it peeves me that there doing this. I already pay 40% tax. I have worked since I left school and I'm not saying That getting this is a given right but I'm fed up of paying for everybody else's Xmas presents in the tax i pay and then struggling to make sure my own children get what they ask for..!,!,

bexibexibex

Got a question. So we know what happens if you earn over £50k. What if you earn exactly £50,000.00?

JimmyTheWig

bexibexibex wrote: »

Got a question. So we know what happens if you earn over £50k. What if you earn exactly £50,000.00?

You keep the full child benefit.