Attendance allowance

[Boozoo]

Hi.
My dear Aunt has been awarded attendance allowance. I take her shopping, do her cleaning, take her out for days out and generally help her out. I work full time (nurse shift work ). Now she has this money she wants to ‘pay me’ I’ve said it’s ok but she says she wants to. I’m not entitled to carers allowance or anything, that’s totally fine.

but if she ‘pays me’ do I need to sort out paying tax on it? Is it an income?

thanks.

I'm not sure anyone official.actually.checks how the money is being used. You could put it down to expenses like petrol. Or she could put it in a savings account so it's there if she needs to buy things or pay for care later on or when you aren't able to help her - if youre ill etc

Ah you sound like a kind and thoughtful relative.
Thank your aunt for her generosity and say you're happy to accept the payments as gifts, not a salary. This is likely to be the simplest way to navigate it, and also relieves your aunt of any obligation to declare and pay NIC and PAYE contributions by taking on an employee.

Gifts of £3000 or less in any tax year are free from inheritance tax.

In addition, even if over £3K if the gift is sufficiently regular that it forms part of the giver's normal expenditure; is part of the giver's income for the tax year, and they still have sufficient funds to cover their normal standard of living, it is exempt from IHT.

Just to add to my previous post about cash gifts from your aunt - they are not subject to income tax.

You are a thoughtful niece and you have a generous Aunty. She can gift you the money as part of her normal gifting pattern and you won't have to pay tax. If she drew it out as cash and gave you who would know what she did with it anyway. If she didn't have you to take her out sheight have to pay a person to take her.

thanks this is helpful. Just to be clear I dont need the money. It was more her ‘wanting to pay me for my time’ I don’t have kids and my sister does so I have more free time to help and I really don’t mind. And we aren’t talking inheritance tax or anything. She’s in one those little flats that she owns but has call buttons on etc.

How about putting the money to one side and when there's enough, take your aunt for a special day out, theatre or maybe even a weekend break.

You could register as her carer instead? Info on the GOV website.

Carer's Allowance: Eligibility - GOV.UK https://share.google/vN8VIPkg0Od8GupdI

OP says they work full time so will be earning too much to qualify for carers allowance