Child maintenance avoidance limited company

[Confusedmummy2017]

Hi all,
My ex set up a limited company to avoid child maintenance payments. So has gone from an income of 60k to 8k (according to cms records) he is the director of the company & the only person listed on it.

If I speak to cms how does this work? Hes clearly avoiding paying taxes and very clearly would not be surviving on £660 a month. Can he still get away with it?

Cant believe the lengths people go to just to avoid having to pay towards their children.

He is not avoiding taxes. He will be taking dividends instead, which is perfectly legitimate and on which he'll be taxed.

You can apply to CMS for a variation. If you do so within 28 days of being notified about the reassessment the variation will be backdated to the date of the reassessment. You can ask CMS to take in to account dividend income (it is not taken in to account in the first calculation as it's deemed to be unearned income). If he's only recently set up the company and was a sole trader before now you may not have any dividends declared yet but they should be willing to look at his actual drawings and base the calculation off either that or, if greater, the amount he is reasonably able to draw.

Thank you. He set the company up when I started divorce proceedings 2018 but I wasn't aware of at first.
It's only showing assets in the company for the first year & then a confirmation statement. Should the figures not have to be submitted yearly?
Do you know roughly what percentage of the company assets they would say he could reasonably withdraw?
Also can the cms ask to see bank statements? As surely this would show his true income unless he hides it further some other way.
Do I ask cms to look into dividend income in writing as it says on the letter if I dont agree with the calculation to call them?

Thank so much

Also if he is taxed on the dividends is that not what information the cms get? As the letter says thos is their income given by HMRC? Thanks

When I didnt know about the limited company & I said to cms that he was clearly not living on an income of £0 he claimed which was 2 years ago. They asked him & he sent a letter to them saying family were financially supporting him. Could he still get away with this, even with the evidence now of the limited company?
Also could I ask them to backdated it to then? I challenged it then but the accepted his lies.

Hi OP, I don't have much advice but I'm going through the same thing at the moment and awaiting the outcome. Ex's salary is about the same but also a limited company so I'm wondering what they'll actually say.

I'll be asking for a variation 100%

ExH totally got away with this. The dividends went out to New wife and His dad. According to the CMS his dad and wife supported him. He was travelling first class and the CMS could do nothing.

Sometimes he can file a tax return nearly 2 years after he earns the income.

If you have all these questions to ask about your case you really need to consider instructing a solicitor to advise you.

I had this. Its shit and it sucks.

His loss and his DC knows he didn't financially support him.

You ask the CMS for a variation, specifically to include dividends.
Whether this information is available yet will depend on his company's financial year end, the tax year, and whether any accounts or tax returns are filed/due.

Alternatively make an application under Schedule 1 of the CA1989 based on his assets.

As Collaborate states: see a solicitor.

My ex husband did the same thing. We literally thought for months, and we agreed a fair amount. We split custody 50/50 as I needed to work, so everyone happy