Child tax credits and moving in with partner

[steveuk1979]

Hello. This is my first post 😬. Hope it's ok.

Firstly just a bit of background

My partner and her kids are moving in with me. (12 and 15). She currently receives about £107 a week through child tax credits which she is set to loose when she moves in. She earns approx 21k her ex claims the child benefits and they share care of the kids 50/50

We've worked this out based on household earnings. I work for my self and pay myself in dividends approximately 30k and if I've had a good year (which has been the case for the past 4 years) I top this up to 60k at year end as such total house hold earnings is about 80k. I also have two kids (4 and 7) that I have 50/50 with my ex wife.

When I was building my business and lived with the ex wife, we had one year where where I paid most of the child benefits back because of earnings. So I don't claim anything. My ex wife claims all the child benefit and I also pay her 250£ a month.

My question is, would she be entitled to anything? I understand she will lose some anyway when her eldest gets to 16 but I suppose a drop in 400£ stings a bit. It doesn't really effect our plans as I manage the bills etc on my own, but of course she wants to be able contribute. Her credit card debt situations means she's rather committed to that.

Thanks

Steve.

So a joint income of 81k? Of course she won't get tax credits, they're for low income families .

Once you move in together she would need to close her single tax credits claim. If you were eligible for anything it would mean a new claim for Universal credits, but as pp says with an income of 80k there is very little chance of getting UC.

As I thought. It's not something I've ever looked into. I was actually surprised she could get what she did. I wouldn't have considered her income low. But I suppose when you're talking about it form a household total, it is.

Thanks for the clarification.

Yeah she won't be entitled to anything, on the basis that your joint household income is £100k. I mean, that's how it's going to work when she moves in, right? That you'll have £100k between you?

Her household income will have increased from 21k to 80k- why on earth would she be entitled to anything from the state?

Is this £21k FT or PT? If PT, could she look for FT work? Its surprising that on £21k, no childcare, she received that much not including housing benefits.

Is she moving with you? If so you can continue to pay the mortgage/rent and she then saves on what she is paying now.

@dontdisturbmenow

Is this £21k FT or PT? If PT, could she look for FT work? Its surprising that on £21k, no childcare, she received that much not including housing benefits.

Is she moving with you? If so you can continue to pay the mortgage/rent and she then saves on what she is paying now.

Most likely will end up with a tax credit overpayment when the claim ends?

Ok so switching to the overpayment reclaim comment.

How is that calculated? Is it an annual thing or monthly? I would have thought that if it's paid monthly it should be calculated monthly. O

She is moving into my home. My last year self assessment showed 60k income (single parent living on my own. Her salary is 21k (single parent) living on her own.

The 21k is FT

She won't get an overpayment claim against her. When she moves in with you, she simply rings them and explains her change of circumstances and asks for her claim to be shut down. She won't be entitled to any tax credits when she moves in with you to answer your original question as her new household income which will include your income will be too high.

Um, I don't mean to be unkind, but it wouldn't really be her contributing, would it?

Again, she will save in rent/mortgage payment, quite a bit, surely that will make up for the difference?

Yeh you'd think it would. But she's in a situation where all her earnings goes on food/bills/debt.

One could say living beyond means. So yes removal of rent and utility bills does free up some money but the bulk of that money is topped up with the tax credit. Long and short is that she's a mountain of credit card debt and one month behind in terms of salary. (Salary takes her into the black by a few quid for a day) but that's another story.

So in her eyes she's no better off financially in her eyes. Give or take £100. As such, this would be the limit of her contribution. Not that that's an issue. It's not a financial decision to move in together. Well not for me anyway

She'd lose the money she gets for her eldest within a year when he's 16 so she'd have no choice but to find cheaper rent.

Because I have no experience of the tax credits etc I thought I just ask you guys.

Sounds like you could afford to pay her a months worth of her bills/debt and reset the wage/debt cycle she is in.

Yes. I can, and have already said that I would be best for her to clear her debts off than contribute.

She wants to give something to preserve her pride. Which I've said isn't necessary... she doesn't want me to pay for everything including feeding her kids etc.

I see it as a short term thing as the alternative isn't really affordable and once she's back on the straight and narrow she can contribute then.

It would just be one month’s bills though. She could always contribute a bit more than her share of the bills to pay you back once she’s on an even keel. It makes sense to do it.

Yeh it does. Cheers small steps

Don't write off an overpayment. It's calculated from April I think over the year. I stopped claiming in the September and had around 800 quid in overpayments I had to pay back.

It might have changed since then, I'm going back a bit.