claiming child tax credits for 2 children

[Liam88]

Hi all,

My situation is after splitting up with the mother of my 2 children last year and being made redundant shortly before that ive really struggled to make progress with finding consistent work, ive barely made ends meet from November last year and i owe almost £1000 to family that have kindly helped me out, my problem is i have our 2 children 4 days a week on average (3.5 days one week and then 4.5 days the following week and repeat) so finding full time work around this is difficult at the moment but not impossible, ive been relying on dribs and drabs from agency work which meant i stopped my jsa and housing benefits and actually resulted in less money coming in. i have my foot in the door for a reasonably decent but more importantly perfect job thats as good as mine but have no set date of when this will commence which is adding to the frustration.

My ex partner claims all the benefits for the children, my question is as a temporary measure and aslong as she is ok with it, is it possible to claim child tax credits for one child each by saying that one child lives for the majority with me and vice versa? this would enable me housing benefit, income support and obviously the child tax credits, whilst in theory not effecting her situation? it would relieve my money worries and either allow me to better focus on finding a full time job or waiting the job i have my foot in the door to come in, which were only talking a 4 to 12 weeks for.

Ofcourse once i have a wage coming in things can be reverted etc

Thoughts please?

Thanks

ps i didnt mean having my children for 4 days a week is a problem, im thankful i have them as much as i do, just that for me not claiming for them makes my situation hard.

[ostell]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

Why not claim for the children anyway and see what happens. It looks as though you have them for the majority of the time anyway. I don't know but the allowance might just be split. Lying about arrangements is not a good idea.

[Liam88]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

we have them the same nights, its the fact that when i pick them up she insists its in the morning of her last day and when she picks them up from me its 5pm of my last day which mean i have them more over the week every week.

i have already spoken to the tax people a while back and they said they would have to investigate it and make one of 3 decisions, either one of us get all or neither of us gets anything, i fear what with the kids clearly living with me more than the mother and having a hell of a lot more clothes and toys etc at mine but with her being the mother that they will decide neither of us can claim which would mean she loses everything id imagine and wouldn't help me so this is why i thought of this way?

[Amethyst]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

It isn't possible to split claims for tax credits sadly.

This might be worth having a look into

Humphreys (FC) (Appellant) v The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Respondent). Judgment was given on 16 May 2012.

The Appellant father had argued that the denial of sharing of CTC indirectly discriminated against men because men were more likely to have less care of children after separation. HMRC conceded that the discrimination was real. However, the court held that this discrimination, the ‘no-splitting rule’ was justified on public policy grounds as it was the best way to tackle child poverty and was therefore a reasonable approach for the state to adopt. As an aside, Baroness Hale, in giving the unanimous judgement, thought it unhelpful that the family court did not have the power to make orders about splitting such benefits when it made orders about the welfare of children.

She said:
Unfortunately, the advent of the child support scheme has removed the possibility of doing justice from the courts. To restore it would obviously be the more rational solution to the problem under discussion.

[Liam88]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

thanks or that, although it wouldn't be splitting the claim would it? would it be 2 separate claims for 2 separate children? one that would live with her and one that would live with me?

[Amethyst]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

Yes but as that isn't the case you would be in problems for that further down the line.

Does the mother split the tax credits/child benefit she receives with you to help pay for their care? I realise you want to be entitled to tax credits as a lead onto entitlement to other benefits, but without defrauding the system, much as you'd like to, its just not possible.

The benefits system is insane at the moment in that if you start working and try to make things better you seemingly get penalised.

If you have a look on Families Need Fathers site and forums they have quite a lot of information about benefits that might be of help, I expect there are many others in similar positions.

[Liam88]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

no she doesn't unfortunately, annoyingly enough she works part time cash in hand also, ahh didn't realise it would be classed as defrauding the system, nevermind then il think of a way around it. thanks

[atendoftether]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

Sadly I think the above is correct that only one person can claim on the basis of being responsible for the child as far as I am aware the Tax credit claim can only be paid on the basis of the parent being in receipt of the child benefit for that child. Even in terms of housing benefit it is not often that benefit can be paid for a larger property if the child lives there part-time , so if that has been the case I wouldn't rock the boat also it sounds that your arrangement with the chidren is informal so it would be difficult to prove.
It seems that if you are struggling to cope financially then your wife should help out with costs for your son whilst he is living with you, though that is probably unrealistic.
By the way you are allowed earn up to £16000 on a tax credit claim so she is not doing herself any favours by hiding it.
Finally have you tried to get Council tax benefit/housing benefit as this is not dependant on JSA but you can claim on the basis of income, excepting if you have over £16,000, I am sure you don't.
It might be worth it just to stop any liabilty orders on the council tax account.
good luck

[Liam88]

Re: claiming child tax credits for 2 children

Sadly I think the above is correct that only one person can claim on the basis of being responsible for the child as far as I am aware the Tax credit claim can only be paid on the basis of the parent being in receipt of the child benefit for that child. Even in terms of housing benefit it is not often that benefit can be paid for a larger property if the child lives there part-time , so if that has been the case I wouldn't rock the boat also it sounds that your arrangement with the chidren is informal so it would be difficult to prove.
It seems that if you are struggling to cope financially then your wife should help out with costs for your son whilst he is living with you, though that is probably unrealistic.
By the way you are allowed earn up to £16000 on a tax credit claim so she is not doing herself any favours by hiding it.
Finally have you tried to get Council tax benefit/housing benefit as this is not dependant on JSA but you can claim on the basis of income, excepting if you have over £16,000, I am sure you don't.
It might be worth it just to stop any liabilty orders on the council tax account.
good luck

she would lose or have reduced her income support of £280 per 4 weeks if she declared the cash in hand work she does.

its really frustrating that she has just under a £1000 in benefits every 4 weeks, no rent or council tax to pay, now shes working cash in hand which probably equates to an extra £150 and bearing in mind i have the kids 4 days a week which is making it hard for job commitments anyway, im relying on my family to lend me money and get me food shopping at the moment.

as far as im concerned im the childrens main carer anyway, they have probably 4 times the amount of toys at mine, probably the same again in clothes, they spend more time with me etc.

from what ive read up on i think weve come to the decision that she is stopping her child tax and child benefit cliam for one child and saying that that child resides with me which will enable me to claim for that child, strictly speaking like ive said its technically the truth anyway.

thoughts?