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

ves

Is it acceptable to transfer the named child benefit recipient from me to my husband, even though I earn over £50k and he doesn't, because he already does self assessment? I know it won't make a difference to what we have to pay back, but just so I don't have to do SA as well? :mad:

JimmyTheWig

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?

I can't imagine a situation where one partner wouldn't tell the other whether or not they were receiving a benefit.

Presumably, to cover yourself, you won't get into trouble if you say that your wife is claiming it for all your children and it turns out that she isn't.

JimmyTheWig

ves wrote: »

Is it acceptable to transfer the named child benefit recipient from me to my husband, even though I earn over £50k and he doesn't, because he already does self assessment? I know it won't make a difference to what we have to pay back, but just so I don't have to do SA as well? :mad:

It's got nothing to do with whose name the child benefit is in. It's the higher earner who has to pay the extra tax for it so in your case you would have to pay it.

ves

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

It's got nothing to do with whose name the child benefit is in. It's the higher earner who has to pay the extra tax for it so in your case you would have to pay it.

But couldn't we pay it through my husband's self assessment? It will be the same amount as it's a fixed % but will just mean I don't have to go through SA as well. All our income is shared, we're married and live together, blah blah...! Thanks

philj22

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Presumably, to cover yourself, you won't get into trouble if you say that your wife is claiming it for all your children and it turns out that she isn't.

But wouldn't I then be paying additional tax that may not be justified?

I'm just struggling with the concept that this policy seems to be aimed at an individual, i.e. the higher earner over £50K, AND presumes that individual has responsibility over his partners affairs.

If the HMRC wants to know whether my wife receives CB they should ask her, not me!

zagfles

philj22 wrote: »

But wouldn't I then be paying additional tax that may not be justified?

I'm just struggling with the concept that this policy seems to be aimed at an individual, i.e. the higher earner over £50K, AND presumes that individual has responsibility over his partners affairs.

If the HMRC wants to know whether my wife receives CB they should ask her, not me!

This was always going to problematic legally. It's normal in benefits and tax credits to declare joint income, but they are voluntary, nobody is forced to claim them. But taxation is compulsory. It's always worked on the supposedly "important principle" that taxation is independant and you don't need to declare anyone else's earnings, not even your spouse's.

But there's also another legal problem, see:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9641766/Child-benefit-cuts-may-be-illegal.html

I'm sure all the savings the govt make from this policy will go in administration and legal bills. But as I said before this policy isn't about saving money, it's about getting votes from the "why should the rich get benefits" numpties...

JimmyTheWig

ves wrote: »

But couldn't we pay it through my husband's self assessment? It will be the same amount as it's a fixed % but will just mean I don't have to go through SA as well. All our income is shared, we're married and live together, blah blah...! Thanks

You are possibly misunderstanding the term "self assessment". Self assessment means filling in a tax return. A bit of a faff, but simple enough once you have all your bank interest figures.
If your husband is self-employed then he will do self assessment. I.e. he will fill in a tax return (or his accountant will do it for him). He will then have to pay the tax due himself.
If you are employed then you will be on the PAYE scheme so you don't (necessarily) have to do a self assessment tax return. Your tax gets taken automatically by your employer. The amount of tax that you pay depends on (a) your tax code and (b) how much you earn.
If you have to do self assessment that means you have to do a tax return.
If that means you have to pay more tax then you will have to pay more tax. But you will do so by HMRC modifying your tax code and so it will all happen automatically. You won't have to manually pay this money to HMRC.

JimmyTheWig

philj22 wrote: »

But wouldn't I then be paying additional tax that may not be justified?

No, you'd be paying the right amount of tax. Your wife wouldn't be receiving the right amount of benefits. But that won't change.

Icequeen99

nostromo20 wrote: »

Anyone know what legal status of separation I need to achieve to enable the mother of my children (earning below 50K threshold) to continue to claim child benefit (ie is informing HMRC of informal separation sufficient)

If you are married, you need to be separated under a court order or in circumstances likely to be permanent (i.e. a high degree of separation). If you are not married, you need to show you are no longer living together as husband and wife.

With tax credits (the same test), you need to really show you have removed all financial connections (they check the credit reference agency records), another address (although you can stay in the same house you need a good reason and still show you have attempted separation of financials).

IQ

Icequeen99

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?

HMRC will have a dedicated service so that you can find out whether your partner is over the £50,000 or if your partner is receiving child benefit.

See here https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/HICBCDisc?dept-name=&sub-dept-name=&location=43&origin=http://www.hmrc.gov.uk

IQ