Will the tax credits office find out & make assumptions?

BBBNH

Hi,

I share a house with my mum and my child, I work from home as well two days per week. Long story short, I need to leave my mum's address temporarily. There's lots of building work being done, rewiring etc.. And it will be very difficult to live there and impossible to work there (my clients come to my home for treatment)

Ex has said i can move to his house with our child for the 4 months and work there as well. He won't be living there, he said his mum and his brother have said he can take one of their spare rooms. To be honest I don't really have a choice, i've got nowhere else to go temporarily and his kind offer has saved the day. We won't be getting back together, that's definitely not happening.

Anyway, when I move in i'll need to inform Tax credits/child benefit/car insurers etc... I'll be letting them know it's temporary and that i'll be back at my old address in approx 4 months time. I feel it's important to add that I won't be paying any bills. I'll be buying my food & putting money in the electric meter but that's it.

Anyway, when I ring child benefit & tax credits, is it ok to tell them i'm moving temporarily without having to set a joint claim up with ex? Will they know it's his house & not allow me to continue claiming? The minute i'm able to go back home, I will be, and changing my address again straight away.

I was considering not telling them but i'm too much of a worrier to do that, i'd rather be honest. Plus it's quite far away from my usual address and if they wrote to me regarding renewal & i didn't change address i may miss the letter.

dseventy

BBBNH wrote: »

Hi,

I share a house with my mum and my child, I work from home as well two days per week. Long story short, I need to leave my mum's address temporarily. There's lots of building work being done, rewiring etc.. And it will be very difficult to live there and impossible to work there (my clients come to my home for treatment)

Ex has said i can move to his house with our child for the 4 months and work there as well. He won't be living there, he said his mum and his brother have said he can take one of their spare rooms. To be honest I don't really have a choice, i've got nowhere else to go temporarily and his kind offer has saved the day. We won't be getting back together, that's definitely not happening.

Anyway, when I move in i'll need to inform Tax credits/child benefit/car insurers etc... I'll be letting them know it's temporary and that i'll be back at my old address in approx 4 months time. I feel it's important to add that I won't be paying any bills. I'll be buying my food & putting money in the electric meter but that's it.

Anyway, when I ring child benefit & tax credits, is it ok to tell them i'm moving temporarily without having to set a joint claim up with ex? Will they know it's his house & not allow me to continue claiming? The minute i'm able to go back home, I will be, and changing my address again straight away.

I was considering not telling them but i'm too much of a worrier to do that, i'd rather be honest. Plus it's quite far away from my usual address and if they wrote to me regarding renewal & i didn't change address i may miss the letter.

Why wont you be paying your share of the bills (bar the meter), ? Will you not be showering? Heating on? Ultilties? Water meter?

No where else would that happen, why here?

As you wont be paying any bills (bar the meter), there is an argument somewhere that you don't need all the money you get while at home.

Got to be honest, it does sound a bit wierd (the no bill paying thing) and I am struggling not to jump to conclusions about living arrangements.

Rent free and no bills? Really? Even adult children with no job living at home should make a contribution. If they don't, the assumption is they do.

So

• What building work is going to take 4 months?
• Can you not rent a office/space for your clients?
• Why are you not paying bills(bar the meter) or rent for 4 months?
• Whats going on with the council tax?
• Does your ex normally rent it out? Rent book? Safety certificate?

You may not want to answer me, and I don't expect you to, but its the kind of questions (with wierd answers) that leads to...yes, you guessed it...assumptions.

There is no problem with telling the agencies about this as part of a change of circs (eg car insurance void if you dont tell them) but you need to ready for some questions. It does beg questions expecially given that recently he wanted to add you to the mortgage of property he was going to buy!

HTH

D70

BBBNH

Hi, thanks for answering. He usually pays set maintenance, he won't be whilst I live at his property temporarily, that's what we agreed. I'll pay for food, gas and he'll keep his maintenance money.

No, he lives at the property, doesn't rent it out.

I looked at renting a room somewhere and it's too expensive, I'd never make a profit (used to rent one, started working from home for this reason) Council tax will stay the same, I'll still be on the council tax at home. It's only temporary & I'm sure I don't need to inform anyone if I don't want to, but I'd rather be honest and keep it above board. With regards to the property he was going to buy, it fell through.

I just want to know if when I change address tax credits will make us do a joint claim?

dseventy

BBBNH wrote: »

Hi, thanks for answering. He usually pays set maintenance, he won't be whilst I live at his property

See thats a little red flag right there.

Why won't he pay maintenance? Does your child suddenly not require food/clothes/heating/etc while living at his property?

BBBNH wrote: »

It's only temporary & I'm sure I don't need to inform anyone if I don't want to,

As its a change in circumstances, you really do need to inform everyone, you are not away for the weekend. All it takes is a curtain twitcher to report someone (or a motor claim!) and your snookered.

BBBNH wrote: »

I just want to know if when I change address tax credits will make us do a joint claim?

No they won't, but they will ask questions, hence mine.

D70

Icequeen99

BBBNH wrote: »

Hi, thanks for answering. He usually pays set maintenance, he won't be whilst I live at his property temporarily, that's what we agreed. I'll pay for food, gas and he'll keep his maintenance money.

No, he lives at the property, doesn't rent it out.

I looked at renting a room somewhere and it's too expensive, I'd never make a profit (used to rent one, started working from home for this reason) Council tax will stay the same, I'll still be on the council tax at home. It's only temporary & I'm sure I don't need to inform anyone if I don't want to, but I'd rather be honest and keep it above board. With regards to the property he was going to buy, it fell through.

I just want to know if when I change address tax credits will make us do a joint claim?

The technical answer is that no, you won't be made to make a joint claim. If you explain your circumstances to the helpline, they will most likely say you are right to claim as a single person. Your claim will continue no problem.

However, if in that 4 months your case is checked using the credit reference data, the investigation team will find another person registered at that address.

The question you need to ask yourself is can you prove that you are living there alone? I.e. bills in your name, nothing in ex's name, he is on electoral role somewhere else.

It sounds like from your plan, it might be difficult unless you make it quite formal and change everything to your name and he registers himself elsewhere. Seems a lot of trouble for four months though.

IQ

BBBNH

dseventyYes but I usually use the maintenance money towards our share of bills at my mum's, we've agreed whilst I'm temporarily at his place, he'll just take care of the bills. Obviously if I need a hand with things for our child he'll take care of it.

It's not some conspiracy, if it were I would just move there and not inform tax credits etc? I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

So, you say they'll ask questions, do you mean they'll ask "why are you moving to ex's property" I can give them an explanation, but I wasn't going to tell them it's ex's property as he won't be living there. I didn't think I had to say it was his house?

duchy

It sound like rather than him not pay maintaince it would be more prudent to draw up a formal agreement that you are paying him X amount rent for those 4 months -X been the amount of maintainance. Same end result but keeps it on a business footing if you shuffle that money backwards and forwards so there is a record of it. That protects you from any assumption that you are claiming incorrectly and also protects him from any claim from you that child support was not paid (You obviously have a co-operative relationship at the moment -but things can change).

BBBNH

Icequeen99 wrote: »

The technical answer is that no, you won't be made to make a joint claim. If you explain your circumstances to the helpline, they will most likely say you are right to claim as a single person. Your claim will continue no problem.

However, if in that 4 months your case is checked using the credit reference data, the investigation team will find another person registered at that address.

The question you need to ask yourself is can you prove that you are living there alone? I.e. bills in your name, nothing in ex's name, he is on electoral role somewhere else.

It sounds like from your plan, it might be difficult unless you make it quite formal and change everything to your name and he registers himself elsewhere. Seems a lot of trouble for four months though.

IQ

Thank you for your information. It will be a lot of trouble for four months, so I would have to just hope & pray they don't check my claim whilst I'm using his place. I wasn't sure they would know it was his and he lived there just by me giving his address in as my new address, if you see what I mean? Maybe I'm best being honest & explaining it's his but he won't be living there whilst I am?

dseventy

BBBNH wrote: »

Thank you for your information. It will be a lot of trouble for four months, so I would have to just hope & pray they don't check my claim whilst I'm using his place. I wasn't sure they would know it was his and he lived there just by me giving his address in as my new address, if you see what I mean? Maybe I'm best being honest & explaining it's his but he won't be living there whilst I am?

They can (and have) used credit referencing details to check if any of his mail goes to the address, like bank statements, car insurance etc. Then there is GP registration address etc.

When you rely on the intervention of the government in your life (with money) you have accept that intervention when they ask questions.

I hope the thread gives you enough answers to know what to expect.

D70

BBBNH

dseventy wrote: »

They can (and have) used credit referencing details to check if any of his mail goes to the address, like bank statements, car insurance etc. Then there is GP registration address etc.

When you rely on the intervention of the government in your life (with money) you have accept that intervention when they ask questions.

I hope the thread gives you enough answers to know what to expect.

D70

Thank you, I do understand that & you've all been helpful and insightful. I just want to know if they will look into this straight away when I phone the helpline and give my change of address, will they automatically check who else lives there & start asking questions?

Obviously all his mail goes there, it's his house! I can't expect him to change it, he won't. But I need to use his house temporarily & will have to inform HMRC. Is it a risk I'll just have to take?

dseventy

BBBNH wrote: »

Thank you, I do understand that & you've all been helpful and insightful. I just want to know if they will look into this straight away when I phone the helpline and give my change of address, will they automatically check who else lives there & start asking questions?

Obviously all his mail goes there, it's his house! I can't expect him to change it, he won't. But I need to use his house temporarily & will have to inform HMRC. Is it a risk I'll just have to take?

It could happen when you ring, it could happen while your there, it might happens ages afterwards. All it takes is a doubt, someone to report you, or some questions not answered correctly and they might.

D70