Nil tax code AND now an IPA is being slapped on? HELP!

Bakeybadoo

After having a smooth few post-BR months, we're starting to hit bumpy grounds.

OH was given a nil tax code and is waiting for that to kick in and will then send the tax to the OR once he starts getting it. Fine.

Then today he gets a letter saying they want him to pay £75 per month, of his disposable income, for 36 months?

How is that fair that they get money from him 2 ways? And 36 months? Even if he's discharged?

It says if he disagrees, to write to the OR and we sure as heck will be doing so. We are barely keeping our head above water as it is. And we have a 3rd baby on its way February. I'm disabled and can't work either. When we filled out his SoA for his discharge papers, we were in the negative so how can they say he has disposable income?

Anyone any views? Is it likely we can get this £75pm overturned?

NekoZombie

Regarding the IPA your husband already pays from his tax, it's probably best not to think of that as your money anyway. If it wasn't going to the OR it would be going to the tax man. You would never get a whiff of it either way.

Assuming nothing has changed, it sounds like you missed off one of your expenses from your paperwork - relatively easy to do. I would resubmit your I&E, or perhaps call and ask them to go through it with you. If something has changed (like your husbands salary has gone up slightly, but your expenses have remained the same) then this is how they've managed to slap an IPA on you. It happened to me, sadly.

ClaireLR

Hi Bakey,

It does seem a bit unfair to me, obviously if you had the disposable income then fair enough but as you've already said that on your SOA your were in a minus situation I don't see how/why they can do this.

Maybe give them a quick call to see if a mistake has been made?

Conor_3

It's quite fair. You're only allowed to have a level of money you need to live on and meet BASIC NEEDS. Obviously what you deem as basic needs and what the OR deems as being them are different. A mobile phone, Sky TV, Life insurance (apart from mortgage), pension scheme and internet access are NOT basic needs. The OR is NOT a fool and has a very good idea of what a family demographic needs to live on and it's quite a generous allowance.

Being discharged from BR doesn't mean you're discharged from your responsibilities as a BR either. Certain things carry on for several years after.

Here's a question to ask yourself before you bang on again about fairness. How fair is it to borrow £1000's and never repay it?

If repaying the OR £75 a month out of disposible income is an issue, you'd better start getting a grip on your spending because you're going to be back in the same mess in a very short time.

ClaireLR

Conor I don't think either of your last sentences are very helpful or fair to the OP. She has already stated that her IE is in a minus position so doesn't have "disposable" income.

NekoZombie

Conor

I have to say sometimes you are pretty unsympathetic. I would never guess you had gone BR yourself...

meech78

That's a bit harsh really. Maybe check it out with your OR and see what he says, at the end of the day, as you are expecting baby #3, it could be that your I&E will be changing with that?? Maybe you could explain that to the OR and he might be a bit more sympathetic?

Hope it all works out for you!!

tigerfeet2006

not helpful conor

Bakeybadoo

Conor wrote: »

It's quite fair. You're only allowed to have a level of money you need to live on and meet BASIC NEEDS. Obviously what you deem as basic needs and what the OR deems as being them are different. A mobile phone, Sky TV, Life insurance (apart from mortgage), pension scheme and internet access are NOT basic needs. The OR is NOT a fool and has a very good idea of what a family demographic needs to live on and it's quite a generous allowance.

Oh please. He's been BR since April, the OR felt it was quite fair up until then and we live with the basics. We have the basic cable package, a PAYG phone, no life insurance b/c we can't afford it, no pension scheme.

If he had issues with it then I'm positive he'd have questioned it OR slapped an IPA (disposable) before now. Neither our incomes have gone up since BR and the declared SoA. Infact, our outgoings have gone up by £275 rent and down by £198 Child Tax Credits so we're worse off than what we declared with the first SoA at the time of applying for BR.

Don't judge me when you actually have no clue of my personal situation.

Here's a question to ask yourself before you bang on again about fairness. How fair is it to borrow £1000's and never repay it?

How do you know what our debts were from? That's very judgemental and infact, I'd rather you didn't answer any of my posts if that's the sort of attitude you're going to fire back. You are welcome to have an opinion, this is after all an open forum but don't presume to know anything about why we applied for BR.

If repaying the OR £75 a month out of disposible income is an issue, you'd better start getting a grip on your spending because you're going to be back in the same mess in a very short time.

As has already been said - our BASIC SoA leaves us in the negative. Which is why we can't have stuff like life insurance (which with nearly 3 children scares the life out of me for sure). And since you've no idea what our income is, you're once again judging me without any real knowledge of what you're spouting.

Thanks though, your reply was most useful. Not.

Bakeybadoo

And to everyone else, who as always, are helpful and understanding.

I think I was just shocked. I assumed it'd be one or the other, not both and as I said to Conor, our income has gone down and our outgoings gone up - both of which the OR knows since we had to submit a SoA for the early discharge papers a month or so ago.

I've fired a letter off to the OR, asking what the basis for this new decision was and explaining we can't find that extra bit of money and asking to work something out.

Neko - Oh no, I totally didn't think of the tax as our money, in that sense. Just that if he's paying one way, was it fair to slap him with another.

meech78

:T :T :T Bravo Bakeybadoo, well said!