Child tax credit entitlement where there is no main carer ?

Darren_Featherstone

Does anyone know if CTC is available to a parent who, after a Family Court hearing, doesn't have main carer status.  Court issued a parenting order setting out a firm and clear 50/50 shared parenting arrangement, with a clear 50/50 rota.   Whatever was claimed previously, there is now no single main carer, both parents are equal.  

pmlindyloo

Who claims the child benefit?

ZaSa1418

Hi, even with a court order there will always be a resident parent for the sake of the benefits you can claim.
Normally the person who claims the child benefit will be entitled to the CTC however this isnt always the case.
You could always share them, one gets the child benefit and the other the CTC. Or if there are 2 children one parent could claim for one and the other parent claim for the other. 
The benefits system is hugely behind when it comes to 50/50 shared care.

Darren_Featherstone

Two children, mum receives CB for one, dad receives CB for the other.  It's about as 50/50 as you can get.

Nannytone

Then there is no issue both parents can claim benefit for one child each

Darren_Featherstone

Ok, thanks.  I thought I'd read that if there was not a defined main carer then CTC could not be claimed.   The court decision clarified the arrangements as being true 50/50, it may have been a grey area before then, but not after the parenting order was issued.  Just wondered if it changed things.

ZaSa1418

Darren_Featherstone said:

Ok, thanks.  I thought I'd read that if there was not a defined main carer then CTC could not be claimed.   The court decision clarified the arrangements as being true 50/50, it may have been a grey area before then, but not after the parenting order was issued.  Just wondered if it changed things.

The parents should each claim CTC for the child they receive the child benefit for and they shouldn't have a problem. 
If there was only 1 child it would potentially be problematic as both parents share everything 50/50 yet they can't split benefits and it can only be paid to 1 parent but they don't need to worry as 2 children  

Darren_Featherstone

Thanks everyone, your advice is appreciated.  One last question.  Prior to court issuing the Parenting Order, if one parent claimed to be responsible for the majority of care (even for one child,given that parents split child benefit one each), and then the Parenting Order establishes a true 50/50 division of time and responsibilities, would CTC  be reduced or is it just a set amount ?  

ZaSa1418

I have never been able to claim CTC but I would guess it would be a set amount as it's based on income i think. 

Darren_Featherstone

CTC eligibility seems to be defined like this, ultimately the legislation is not crystal clear and I think HMRC would make a judgement call based on the circumstances.  There doesn't seem to be clear guidance on cases where there is a true 50/50 split of time with the children and parental responsibilities.  The info below is from revenuebenefits.org.

Being responsible for a child or young person

In order to be entitled to CTC a person must be responsible for at least one child or qualifying young person. There are two tests that are relevant in determining responsibility – the ‘normally living with’ test and the ‘main responsibility’ test.

Normally living with test

The basic test is that a person is responsible for a child or qualifying young person (QYP) if that child or QYP is normally living with them.

The legislation gives no further guidance on what this means. The HMRC guidance manual states that it should be given its ordinary meaning which is ‘regularly, usually, typically lives with them which allows for temporary or occasional absences’. (TCTM02202)

Main responsibility test

The ‘normally living with’ test is supplemented with the ‘main responsibility test’ where a child or QYP usually lives with two or more people in different households or where they live in the same household where those persons are not limited to the members of a couple.

If two or more people make separate claims for CTC for a child or QYP, only one claimant can be treated as responsible for the child or QYP, for tax credit purposes. In such cases, the CTC will be awarded to the person who has main responsibility. Normally both (or all) claimants will decide between them who has main responsibility and make a joint ‘election’ as to who should receive the CTC. However, if agreement cannot be reached, HMRC will make the decision.

Similarly, ‘main responsibility’ is also not defined in legislation. HMRC guidance states that it should also be given its ordinary everyday meaning of ‘someone who is normally answerable for, or called to account for, the child or qualifying young person’.

This can be quite a difficult test to apply in practice and HMRC have developed a list of factors that can be considered in determining who has main responsibility. The list is not exhaustive but includes the following factors:

• who the child or QYP normally lives with and where they keep the majority of their belongings such as clothes, toys
• who is responsible for the day to day spending for the child or QYP such as buying clothes, food and providing pocket money
• who is the main contact for school/college/nursery/childcare
• who is responsible for the health care and hygiene of the child or QYP such as making appointments with the doctor/dentist, doing their laundry
• what is the registered address for contact for the school/college/nursery/child care, healthcare
• who has legal custody of the child or QYP.

poppy12345

ZaSa1418 said:

I have never been able to claim CTC but I would guess it would be a set amount as it's based on income i think. 

You can only start a new claim for tax credits if you're currently claiming a severe disability premium in with another benefit. . All areas are now Universal Credit, so it will be this you'll need to claim but of course it will depend on your circumstances. Use a benefits calculator.