Single Parent Tax Credit

southeastg

Hi Guys,

Seperated fom my wife 8 months ago, have been living with parents ever since. Im claimiing single parents tax credits. I m think of moving into a house with my girlfriend, will i loose this tax credit? Does it just stop or will the revenue look for the amount claimed from the start of the year back? The reason i ask is because i claimed for last year and i got the entire amount for the year not just for the 2 month period we had seperated. Im assuimg therefore that they would look for the entire amount claimed if i declared that i was no longer entitled to it.

Regards

barneystinson

southeastg wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Seperated fom my wife 8 months ago, have been living with parents ever since. Im claimiing single parents tax credits. I m think of moving into a house with my girlfriend, will i loose this tax credit? Does it just stop or will the revenue look for the amount claimed from the start of the year back? The reason i ask is because i claimed for last year and i got the entire amount for the year not just for the 2 month period we had seperated. Im assuimg therefore that they would look for the entire amount claimed if i declared that i was no longer entitled to it.

Regards

AFAIK know if you were entitled to the credit for any part of the year, then you get the full credit - whether it's the last 2 months or the first 6 months of a year is irrelevant.

southeastg

Thanks for the reply, im just interested to know if i will owe the revenue for the 6 months of this year if they have a all or nothing approach

namenotavailablE

You might need to get absolute clarity on this before moving in- this document is the Revenue Commissioners guideline to the Lone Parent credit.

A particular condition for eligibility is that you can't be living with another person "as man and wife" (see the bullet points on that document).
I'm not sure, but I'd think that if you initially qualify and then move in with your girlfriend then that MIGHT (and I emphasise 'might') render you ineligible for the credit. You could then lose the credit for the entire year. On that reading, you'd have to stay separate for the full year and move in in January next to retain the credit in 2011 but lose it in 2012 :-D

Basically- check it out and don't necessarily rely on boards.ie

barneystinson

namenotavailabl wrote: »

You might need to get absolute clarity on this before moving in- this document is the Revenue Commissioners guideline to the Lone Parent credit.

A particular condition for eligibility is that you can't be living with another person "as man and wife" (see the bullet points on that document).
I'm not sure, but I'd think that if you initially qualify and then move in with your girlfriend then that MIGHT (and I emphasise 'might') render you ineligible for the credit. You could then lose the credit for the entire year. On that reading, you'd have to stay separate for the full year and move in in January next to retain the credit in 2011 but lose it in 2012 :-D

Basically- check it out and don't necessarily rely on boards.ie

There is no logic to what you've said there, particularly if you bear in mind that the OP has said he was entitled to the credit for the full year last year despite only becoming eligible for it in the last two months of the year.

As I said, if you are a lone parent in a tax year, regardless of whether it is for the last two months or the first five months, then you get the credit; I've already been through the document you linked and it doesn't make any reference to a year where one becomes / ceases to be a lone parent, and I don't have time to go looking at the Acts, but I would be fairly sure that the legislation will be worded in such a way that the credit applies where, "in any year" the conditions are satisfied, and it will not specify "the whole of the year", because that would preclude the OP from receiving the credit last year...

It's the same with other tax credits, you don't lose entitlement to the rent tax credit for a whole year if you stop renting way through a year, nor the PAYE credit if you stop working under PAYE or leave the country...

Bottom line is OP, (even though I know I'm right!) you can't just accept advice from some randomer on a forum, so ring / call into the tax office and ask them to confirm whether you lose the credit for the whole year if you move in with a partner. I'll bet a crisp €20 note that they'll tell you you only lose the credit from next year...

namenotavailablE

You might be right but the point that causes the doubt in my mind is the condition that you cannot claim the credit if you are living with another person as man and wife as per the document linked.

This is an extract from a Dáil question:

172. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if the lone parent tax credit can be availed of by a separated parent who is substantially maintaining a child when they have entered into a new relationship and are cohabiting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10324/10] Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan): The position is that Section 462 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides for a one-parent family tax credit to be granted where a claimant proves that a qualifying child is resident with him or her for the whole or part of the year. However, the relief does not apply for any year of assessment where a husband and wife are living together. Nor is the credit available for a year of assessment where a man and woman are cohabiting.

It definitely needs to be clarified by the OP.

barneystinson

namenotavailabl wrote: »

You might be right but the point that causes the doubt in my mind is the condition that you cannot claim the credit if you are living with another person as man and wife as per the document linked.

This is an extract from a Dáil question:



It definitely needs to be clarified by the OP.

Yeah I actually read the section and I can see what you mean alright, but my point remains, you can't distinguish between a year where a person becomes entitled to the credit (last year, in the OPs case) and a year where they cease to become entitled (this year if he movesin with partner)...

So the OP is either entitled to the tax credit for both years, or not at all for either, and seeing as he was given the credit for last year, and was rightly given it at the start of this year, I don't think they can/will withdraw the credit halfway through the year...

I'm going to check this out definitively (with Revenue) and let you know what the outcome is - do you want that €20 by cash or cheque...?

namenotavailablE

It could be another of those 'concessionary treatments' [or else a Revenue official who didn't fully know the rules :eek:]

Definitely let us know if you find anything.

If required, you can send the cheque to my Cayman Islands representative

Mr. Incognito

oh dear.

if you have a kid and you are seperated and the child comes to stay with you for one day of the year or more then you are entitled.

End of.

You cannot claim the married person credit and the single parent credit at the same time and so if you get remarried you lose it.

It's not that complicated

southeastg

Thanks for the reply Mr Incognito, i wish it was that easy but as far as i can tell if i move in with someone else i loose the tax credit, no?

namenotavailablE

In the TCA 1997, s462 outlines the criteria for entitlement to the single parent credit. The last part of subsection 2 includes the following text:

but this section shall not apply for any year of assessment in the case of a husband or a wife where the wife is living with her husband, or in the case of a man and woman living together as man and wife.

When read with the full subsection, it seems to clearly indicate that you cannot get the credit if you are living with someone else. That is also the point made in the Revenue document linked above and in the Dáil question copied above.

The form for claiming the lone parent credit also asks the question as to whether or not you are living with another person "as husband/ wife whether married or not", so presumably that status IS relevant to the entitlement.

As I read it, it is not sufficient to simply support the child and have him/her reside with you for some/all of the year- there is the additional requirement that you cannot be residing with another person "as husband/ wife". If anyone has evidence to suggest otherwise it would be greatly appreciated if it were presented.

As recommended above, check out the consequences before making your next move, OP.

barneystinson

Ok well this seems to be something of a grey area; strictly by the legislation if you move in with a new partner you should lose the entire credit for the whole year, but in practice it just isn't done until the next tax year.

Also strictly by the legislation you probably shouldn't have got the credit last year either OP, as you were entitled to a married persons credit... but don't admire that gift horse's dental work.

Mr. Incognito

This is more bar stool tax advice.

Moving in with your girlfriend will not make you lose the single parent tax credit.

You are not entitled to the married person tax credit if you live with your girlfriend as you are not married.

For clarity on this and all other matters regarding persons that are living together the law has been updated to define where persons are and are not to be assessed as co-habiting as man and wife. If you are living together five years then you are considered to be living together as man and wife and a host of entitledments are triggered including rights as to property, inheritences, etc.

Unfortunately social welfare is not up with the times and routinely denies persons their dole because they are co-habiting. This, interpreted in the strict legal sense is wrong and is done on policy grounds more often than not but I have yet to meet someone on the dole with the means to challenge this policy legally.

As an aside persons that are not ordinarily resident i.e tax resident in Ireland for three consecutive years should not be entitled to a medical card but they are granted one, also on policy grounds as the HSE's definition of ordinarily resident is a total misinterpretation of the legislation.

So in short, apply for and claim the credit.

namenotavailablE

@MrIncognito

Could you post a link to the source for this legislative update and perhaps include it as a 'sticky'.

The Revenue's FAQ on the tax implications for cohabitants (as opposed to civil partners) of the "Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010" does not contain any references to cohabitants gaining property/ inheritance etc rights. Registered civil partners of the same gender do gain such rights but not cohabitants as far as I can see.

I also can't find any reversal of the disentitlement to the Lone parent Credit in circumstances where you cohabit with another person "as husband and wife". While any individual case would need to be determined on the facts, moving in and living on a day-to-day basis with a girlfriend surely runs the risk of being used as evidence of "living as husband and wife" status.
Could you provide a link for that provision too (and also sticky it if appropriate).

Mr. Incognito

I am being unclear here.
I apologise.

There is a mechanism to register civil partnerships that grant these rights.

There is an argument in professional circles that such should be the new definition for living together as man and wife for tax and welfare purposes.

cohabitation does not grant these rights automatically.

I am unaware of revenue ever quuering the cohabitation of persons in receipt of single parents allowance but i am aware of social welfare questioning same

barneystinson

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I am unaware of revenue ever quuering the cohabitation of persons in receipt of single parents allowance but i am aware of social welfare questioning same

I know for a fact that Revenue have, and are, querying entitlement to single parent family tax credit, and withdrawing it, from individuals who are cohabiting, and not a bar stool in sight...

In fact they ran a specific project in at least one District last year and I believe they found fairly widespread claiming of the credit from people not entitled to it.

On that basis it's most likely that the same exercise is being / will continue to be undertaken in other districts.

Mr. Incognito

Then i stand corrected- which district was that?

i can check it out internally

southeastg

Hi guys,

Sorry i didnt close this off, i contacted the revenue to inform them i was no longer entitled to the tax credit, the lady on the phone seemed shocked, i guess its unusual for people to be ringing up admitting to this. Anyway she said i was entitled to it till the end of the year and it would be cancelled next year. Thanks for the help

kellyj77

Hi,

I am a lone parent but living with my parents. The baby stays with me frequently, is there a minimum number of days the baby has to stay with you per week before you are entitled to the additional tax credit and can this be back dated as i have never lived with the mother?

barneystinson

kellyj77 wrote: »

Hi,

I am a lone parent but living with my parents. The baby stays with me frequently, is there a minimum number of days the baby has to stay with you per week before you are entitled to the additional tax credit and can this be back dated as i have never lived with the mother?

No minimum, if the child stays with you one night in the year you're entitled to the credit.

barneystinson

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Then i stand corrected- which district was that?

i can check it out internally

Sorry, I only noticed that question just now! Waterford and/or Wexford AFAIK

gerrybbadd

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Then i stand corrected- which district was that?

i can check it out internally

Donegal were doing it also I believe

censuspro

Civil Partnership only applies to same sex couples. An opposite sex couple cannot enter into a civil partnership because they have the option of marriage.

None of the reliefs that apply to same sex civil partners estend to co-habiting couples.

In relation to the OP's question. If a person is in receipt of the lone parent tax credit and they move in with a new partner living together as man and wife then the OP will lose the lone parent tax credit because they are deemed to be no longer a lone parent.

K-9

censuspro wrote: »

Civil Partnership only applies to same sex couples. An opposite sex couple cannot enter into a civil partnership because they have the option of marriage.

None of the reliefs that apply to same sex civil partners estend to co-habiting couples.

In relation to the OP's question. If a person is in receipt of the lone parent tax credit and they move in with a new partner living together as man and wife then the OP will lose the lone parent tax credit because they are deemed to be no longer a lone parent.

The civil partnership bill confers certain rights on co-habitating couples of 5 years or more, maintenance rights, that type of thing, regardless of sexuality AFAIK. If a child is involved between the parents the period is shorter.

However, it is off topic to the OP, as the main requirement is that you are indeed a single parent, i.e. parenting alone. Having a partner who resides full time with you precludes that.

The over nights from memory aren't stipulated but it seems from hearsay that even 1 over night a year qualifies.

censuspro

K-9 wrote: »

The civil partnership bill confers certain rights on co-habitating couples of 5 years or more, maintenance rights, that type of thing, regardless of sexuality AFAIK. If a child is involved between the parents the period is shorter.

Your referring to the redress scheme within the bill. This is not automatic and the onus is on the financiall dependent co-habitant to apply to the court to prove that they are financially dependent on their partners.

3 years where there are children.

K-9

censuspro wrote: »

Your referring to the redress scheme within the bill. This is not automatic and the onus is on the financiall dependent co-habitant to apply to the court to prove that they are financially dependent on their partners.

3 years where there are children.

That's the usual way. An example would be the obligation of an unmarried Dad to pay child maintenance, unless the mother applies to the court to enforce the right he doesn't really have to pay it. The right to receive it and obligation to pay it still exists without a court order, it's more for contentious cases.

The ability to seek compensation is there in law, in contested cases an application to court would be needed to iron out the details.

drewmichael

Can anyone advise how one would be able to tell if they are in receipt of the single parent tax credit on their wage slip?

In addition, if one was in receipt of the tax credit and then is married do they automatically lose it? Or do you have to notify the revenue that you are now married?

My situation is my partner has a kid with her ex and she wasn't sure or not if she's claiming it.

Squatter

drewmichael wrote: »

In addition, if one was in receipt of the tax credit and then is married do they automatically lose it? Or do you have to notify the revenue that you are now married?

My situation is my partner has a kid with her ex and she wasn't sure or not if she's claiming it.

"How do you qualify for the SPCCC?

Whether you can claim the SPCCC depends on your personal circumstances. In order to qualify you must NOT be:

married (unless separated)
jointly assessed for tax as a married person or civil partner
in a civil partnership (unless separated)
cohabiting (living with your partner)
widowed or a surviving civil partner in the year for which you are making a claim and in receipt of the basic Personal Tax Credit of €3,300."

Revenue operates on the basis that if you're honest with them, they'll treat you fairly - and if you're not, then beware! So the onus is on the taxpayer to inform them of any change in their marital status.

http://revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-credits-reliefs-and-exemptions/children/single-person-child-carer-credit/how-do-you-qualify-for-the-spccc.aspx