to want my partner to claim tax credits as we'll get a higher rate than if I do?

[Ginni]

We don't live together so by their criteria we are both single parents. DD is always with me currently as i'm on maternity leave, and we spend just over half the week at mine, and the rest at his house. When I return to work we're planning on using a childminder and spending most of the week at his house and weekends at mine for convenience. The form says the main person responsible for dd's care should apply - AIBU to want him to claim as he earns less and we'll get about £7000 more p/a including childcare component? I should clarify he is also dd's biological dad.

No you both have your personal allowances for tax purposes but then anything either of you earn over that amount is counted but up to £12k doesn't make much difference to the figures.
So if you were going to earn £5k in casual jobs etc you might as well earn £12k because the amount of CTC you'd keep is around the same.
Have a play around with entitledto.co.uk that's pretty accurate.

blimey you're going to have trouble completing those forms if you can't even work out what you're suggesting is fraud

Except earning £12k instead of £2k means incurring nearly the difference in childcare costs and other expenses. So not worth it for other reasons. Whilst a bit of casual work while I take leave/work at home means DH keeps his hand in and gets a life.

I think when I've tried with entitledto.com it counts all of DH's £2k odd on top of mine.

You are not both single parents really are you you both earn money which goes together to provide for the child and as far as I can see two houses. Your household may be spread across two houses but it really is one household. It is your choice howw you live and at least you are not both trying to claim tax credits, but it does sort of strike me as wrong for you not to claim as a couple and admit both incomes. But then hey I truely am a single parent and really struggling to make ends meet so perhaps I see it from a different point of veiw than the OP.

• sorry a bit off topic

I've just realised, I have to declare taxable earnings as shown on my P60. DH doesn't get a P60 as it's cash in hand and not enough to be taxable (although it is declared to the tax office). So strictly speaking, that would mean it shouldn't be counted for CTC purposes, wouldn't it?

I actually quite like the sound of being a couple and having seperate houses. My BF snores terribly and if we ever got to the stage of him maybe moving in I don't think I could cope, but as it is I don't think even combining money we could afford 2 rooms never mind two houses. So he will not be moving in just yet.

If you were an MP or an idle 'person' who had never worked a day in their life this wouldn't be a problem . Claim as much as you can for whatever you can. Sorry-am feeling very bitter about the state of this country. The harder you work the moreyou are penalised.

No lockets you're not alone.
The thing I find with money is it's almost like a ripple effect flowing back and forth.
Whenever I've kept something that doesn't belong to me I loose something.
Perfect example I didn't pay for a child to come along to a softplay party, I should have it was £4. But whilst I was at that party I lost a £25 cardigan, it's weird but what goes around comes around, I truely believe the MP's will get their medicine.

ginni - the person who claims CTC has to be the main carer of the child. this is same requirement for CB. therefore to claim one you need to claim the other

While I agree that honesty is the best policy I tried to be honest and was still told I COULDN'T make a joint claim.

DP and I were a couple everyone seen us as a couple. We had signed a joint lease on a house, had a joint council tax bill etc.
The only thing was that I was not actually permenantly living in the house yet. The dc's and I were only there at weekends. I got mail delivered to my new address and would be living there permenantly within a few weeks was just waiting for the end of dd's school term as we were moving areas but because I was not physically living in the house the tax credits eople would not let me change my claim yet from my single parent claim to a joint claim. Despite the fact I was no longer claiming my benefits and dp had begun financially supporting me and the dc's (not his children)

The fact is that the tax credits definition of a couple is 2 people living together at the same address and even though they are a couple in the rest of our gefinitions the tax credits would not class them as so as they both have their own permenant address and all mail, mortgage etc is in their own names and not that of the other partner.

Its fraud as your DP is not the main carer as your daughter resides at your address.

To claim CTC you also have to be claiming CB, unless you plan to hand over care to yor partner and have your daughter reside there you cant do what you are suggesting. What if you fall out after transferring the benefits to his name, he would have to give permission to switch them back.

Instead of looking for ways to con the state out of money, why not take responsibility for the child that you brought into the world - whether that means you declare yourself as a couple or he pays more maintenance etc. The money you would save not paying for two houses would go a long way towards not getting any WTC.

I did mean to add that too actually that they do also ask for the CB number on the form and I am assuming that would be in your name anyway.
It would still have to be you (OP) that claimed the CTC getting your dp to do it would be wrong but I do agree that for the purposes of the CTC definition of a couple regardless of our everyday definition your not.

fledtoscotland you are incorrect, as are many others who have posted - the child does not have to live with the person who claims CB www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/claim-same-child.htm. One partner can claim CB and the other can claim CTC, I have already checked and know I am right.

CB is paid to the person the child lives with therefore how can you claim your OH is the main carer?

You've already decided you are going to fraud the system instead of claiming as a couple or with you being the main carer so not sure why the additional posts.

Hopefully the system will catch you out and you'll be made to pay back all the tax payers money you take wrongfully.

Interesting link Ginni - I didn't realise that someone else that the child doesn't live with could claim the child benifit if you both agree.

The system is pitted with loop holes and I suppose if you look carefully enough then you can legaly screw the system to get what you want from it without breaking the law.

I still think in my own mind it is something I would feel very uncomfotable with, as was said early karma has a way of bitting you on the bum...

ginni - what i said remains true. the main carer of the child gets the child benefit in all but exceptional circumstances. that doesnt mean that the child lives with them full time but they are ultimately legally responsible for that child and his or her upkeep.

my DH works for HMRC and he has confirmed again that in 99.9% of cases the person claiming CTC will be the person who gets CB. you have to state on your original application for CTC if you are in receipt of CB and will get asked why if you are not the parent receiving CB.

would like to add that i do agree with the others and hope that you are one of the 5% of all CTC cases where they audit it and check that the information you are providing is correct.

But by your own admission you DO live together.

You said: 'DD is always with me currently as i'm on maternity leave, and we spend just over half the week at mine, and the rest at his house. When I return to work we're planning on using a childminder and spending most of the week at his house and weekends at mine for convenience.'

As someone else said, you quite clearly live together, but choose to maintain two houses. I live with my DH and we maintain two houses for the purposes of work, and are therefore often apart - more often than you and your DP by the sounds of it. Obviously we don't claim TC because it would be legally and morally wrong. And we are proud to be a couple.

Somebody has already phrased this better but...
CB should be paid to the person who is the main carer of the child. Although in some circs you can agree for this to be paid to someone else.
CTC/WTC should be paid to the main carer, but again you can agree for it to be paid elsewhere. It's not a requirement for TC's to be paid to the CB claimant, but the criteria for both are the same so in theory that's how it should be paid. (It was previously a requirement though).

I work in this kind of area...[vague emoticon]

The reason you can have it paid elsewhere is because no family is straightforward, but mainly to help foster carers, guardians etc.. ie people who help out when there is some sort of family breakdown.

BUT.. that leaves the system open to loopholes. This is one of them.

I'm fairly sure that the definition of being a couple for TC purposes is "if you live together as a couple". Not live under one roof as a couple. The OP is a couple. They live their lives as a couple. Therefore they should claim as a couple.

My dsis DH is in the army, based in barracks miles away. She is a trainee nurse so couldn't move with him. Sometimes they go stay with him, others he comes back to theirs. Sometimes they can go a month without seeing each other. They are still a couple for TC purposes.

There are two issue in this for me. While I'm here debating whether they should be classed as a couple, that's not what the OP is asking. She wants to know whether she can defraud the system a bit more by putting the claim in the name of the lowest earner in order to defraud it a bit more. So does it matter whether in the eyes of the TC office whether they are a couple or not? No. Does it matter morally? Yes. Whetever the specifics of their living arrangements they should be claiming as a couple. Any "couple" who can separately afford to pay two mortgages does not need any extra help from the government.

I am going to check this tomorrow... I'll report back.

Ooh and Ineedacleaner...

Your situation is different because afaics you were a single parent. YOU alone suported your children/home prior to making a commitment with your DP.
I think it's down to the fact that you were physically moving in together that it was the easy date to make a "joint" application.
IYSWIM?!
I haven't explained that very well.

This is sounding like the MP's with their expenses all over again. Not technically breaking the rules doesn't mean that you are morally right. You are a couple, it doesn't matter whether they define you as one just because you don't share a house. If you and dd's father see yourself as a couple then you are one and you should claim accordingly, not trying to find loopholes in the wording.

Also if you are going to be spending most of the week at dp's home then you are living together. I presume that you also have 2 lots of baby stuff at each home, which isn't cheap, as well as being able to afford a home each, how can you not see that by trying to claim for the person who earns less that this as defrauding the system?

I share a house with my sons father, my daughter lives with me too, we do not have a physical relasionship but are mates. He owns the house and pays some of the bills. I pay rent for and some of the other bills. We have separate bedrooms, would the TC people class us as a couple.