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CSA and child tax credits

6 replies

Smai99 · 15/10/2014 19:54

Hope this is in the right place.
I have a partner who has children from a previous relationship. One of these children I did not know about. my partner recently received a letter stating that he must pay nearly £100 a week for these children. Now, I'm not disputing the fact that he must pay for his children, however I am disputing why that should come from a tax credit award that has been allocated to my children (which are also his). It seems that the CSA have obtained details of how much we get down to the last penny, and have totted up this lovely sum based on classing our joint tax credits award as HIS income. My question is can they just forcibly take any amount they want from the tax credits, like they do from wages? Do wages and tax credits form the same income or do they ignore tax credits if he has declared a regular wage?
As I stated before I agree he should pay (out of His wages) and he used to have a family arrangement (payments to her bank and he took kids on holidays and days out, bought clothes and shoes when asked. She even went on a spending spree at the Disney store and charged it to him!) until the ex found out about me and then suddenly the CSA got involved.

OP posts:
Greengrow · 15/10/2014 21:05

I am not sure. It looks like they might www.csahell.com/faq/does-the-csa-take-tax-credits-into-account-when-calculating-maintenance which makes sense as it is income he receives jointly with you for his children.

What about a solution where his child lives with you both half the time and he and the mother pays half of all costs? That might be fairer on everyone and ensure thef ather does his share of his child's washing and day to day care too.

oodlesandnoodles · 15/10/2014 22:30

Yes tax credits for the children you have together AND any children that are yours and not his (as they will all be on one joint claim) are calculated as his income. However, you will get a small reduction for having other dependent children in the house, his or not (so if you have children that aren't his he gets a reduction for them too) and a reduction for Shared Care depending on how many nights a year they stay at yours.

How long ago did he stop paying as a family based arrangement? Does he owe her arrears now?

HeadDoctor · 16/10/2014 01:10

Is the documentation from the CSA or the CMS? The CMS doesn't include tax credits according to gov.uk.

I don't know if you can or how you can get a claim moved from the CS to the CMS though.

IneedAwittierNickname · 16/10/2014 01:25

Interesting.
My ex is married with 2 step children and a baby. I assume they are claiming tax credits (well they must be as both are unemployed)
I don't get any of their tax credits (rightly so imo)
Maybe because he isn't working :/ I'm sure the csa make it up as they go along

WakeyCakey45 · 16/10/2014 20:45

I've battled with the CSA for years over this - we finally confirmed that the child tax credits I receive for my DD (by my exH) cannot be assessed for Child Maintenance purposes for my DHs DCs. DH is being assessed under the CSA rules (not CMS).

However, the Working Tax Credit received by our household is currently included in the assessment but it hasn't always been. It depends who is the primary earner in the household - if it is the NRP then the Tax Credit is considered to be their income, but if it is the partner of the NRP (ie me) then the Working Tax Credit received by the household is considered to be theirs and not assessed for CM purposes.

STIDW · 17/10/2014 02:58

Under the CSA 2003 rules the full amount of the non-resident parent's household's Working Families Tax Credits counts as income if the non-resident parent earns more than their new partner. If the NRP's income is equal that of their new partner only half of the WFTC count as the NRP's income. When a new partner earns more than the NRP none of the WFTC counted as the NRP's income. See Schedule Part IV para 11 Child Support (Maintenance Calculation and Special Cases) Regulations 2000.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2000/0110188624/schedule

Unless I've missed something my understanding is the missing para 13a of the Schedule above provides for child tax credits paid to the NRP or their new partner counts as the NRP's income which was confirmed by a tribunal decision.

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