Girlfriends' ex ripping us off....

elisebutt65

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

How about designating Mum as the main carer for one child and Dad the main carer for the other?

That would actually seem to be the perfect solution -except for the fact that the first child gets more CB so how would CB count that - would they count each parent as the PWC for one child, so each parent gets First child amount???

duchy

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

How about designating Mum as the main carer for one child and Dad the main carer for the other?

Now THAT sounds sensible and workable (which probably means knowing the Inland Revenue-it isn't ) Worth following up on though.

inch_high

Thanks for all the replis guys.The reason why their Dad claims is mainly because he and his girlfriend are on less than us so would get a little extra tax credit. However, his girlfriend is about to qualify as a nurse so is about to go full-time, so they'll then earn more.As stated, there is no sole carer. So according to HMRC, he is the main care, but as we know, that is the case. I dont think he'll even be willing to claim for one child, while we claim for the other.We've given him the options as per the original post and he hasnt come back to us. We have no option other than to claim ourselves, and to prove that, we need to prove that we are the main carers. If push comes to shove, we may have to fight for full custody, but we dont want to drag everyone through that unless we have to.

Callisto

I currently work for tax credits... HMRC will not decide who the main carer for the children is unless there are two claims submitted for the same child/ren and one claim is already in payment.

If this happens, they will issue letters out to both households trying to establish who the main carer is (questions such as who does the child's laundry?, who looks after the child when they are ill? etc). This can often be a long winded process and the original claimant will still be receiving the child tax credits until the decision is made (unless fraud is suspected), so unless you can take on more responsibility for the child/ren (to take it above 50%), it would be unlikely that the tax credits would be awarded to you instead.

It would be a lot less hassle to claim for one child each, the father would need to end responsibility for one child on his claim and then a new claim for that child would be accepted.

sarahlouise210

Also working for HMRC ..... I think you should consider that the way you are actually dealing with this is fraud and may result in an investigation into your own and your childrens fathers circumstances. You cannot just choose which parents claim according to who has the lowest income just to get the highest tax credits!!!! Though this is perfectly workable "in the system" it is not the correct procedure as you must know. In effect he has been claiming a higher level of tax credits - giving you half that you would not have been entitled to as you income is higher..and in the process everyone has avoided any sort of child maintenance as it is covered by tax credits and shared care. Legally the parent who claims child benefit must claim - this also applies with school application catchments which may affect you in the future. As you have found the original arrangement could not be relied on. I agree that it would be best to claim child benefit and tax credits for one child each-while his still may not be wholly the truth it is the nearest you can get to the 50/50 shared care you have that enables you to claim in your own right what is legally yours without relying on your ex to give it to you.

inch_high

Thanks Callisto and Sarah Louise.Apart from the obvious problem with the father, the HMRC dont help. I dont see why we cant claim 50/50 for both in the first place. As it happens, we can calim for one child each, but what if there was only one child altogether? You'd be stuck. I dont see why they cant just assess one parents income and half the amount of tax credits they get and do the same with the other parent.As for it being potentially fraudulant, what are we supposed to do? We do have them 50/50, we had to pick one or the other to claim, we picked their father (hindsight is a wonderful thing!).