Hi, guys new here
Just wondering I got a letter a while ago actually telling me CSA was stopping in September and CMS was taking over.
Finally got a letter from them the other day with some estimated calculations from HMRC until I contact them which I will phone them next week.
Ex wants to do Direct Pay.
Reading through the book that came with it, it states that they can take my wifes wage into account as additional income? is this true?
Pretty sure it only applies in cases where your wifes wages could be considered diversion of your income.
e.g. if you have your own ltd company with you and your wife as directors/employees. You work as a contractor - earning all/majority of the money. However your ltd company then pays your wife a very high wage, and then you a very low wage.
It is unusual to do it that way because it is not tax optimal UNLESS you are taking into account wages being used in a CMS calculation.
"Diversion of income
This means the parent paying maintenance may be controlling the amount of income they receive by:
giving it to someone else. This could be, for example, a partner, but they still benefit from the income
diverting the income so it can’t be included in the maintenance calculation. For example, if they keep profits within a company rather than taking a wage, or they get a benefit such as a company car instead of part of their salary
making excessive pension contributions. What will count as excessive payments could depend on your individual circumstances."
It is unlikely to apply to the vast majority of people - apart from anything to get it right takes time and effort, and prob a good accountant - so unless huge sums are involved I doubt a lot of the time it is worth the effort from a financial perspective.
She isn't working at the moment but will be next year. the Booklet that came with the CMS letter explaining how it all works is a little confusing it sounded like they would take my wifes wage into account as well as mine.
I don't have my own company so I guess I don't need to worry about it.
Hi There,
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CMS wouldn't look at your partners income, to give you some comfort, up until Dec last your I ran my own business, it wasn't making any money so I wasn't paying anything to my ex, my wife earnt a very good wage and they didn't look at her for payment.
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I have since closed the business and now work full time, and they are now only taking money from me and again not looking at my wifes wage.
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So don't worry.
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GTTS