Expecting a Baby - Tax Breaks

D

Dub15

Guest
Hello all,

My partner is pregnant with our first child. She is due in 4 weeks :). We are not married but we are living together in my house. I am paying a mortgage on this house for the past 3 years.
I was wondering if anybody can help me understand what tax breaks/credits that we might be entitled to?

Thanks,
C
 
Nothing. As you are not married you are not entitled to claim married tax relief. As you are living together you can not claim for one parent family tax credit. The only thing that your partner can claim for is her Child allowance payments from Social Welfare. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
 
Unfortunately very little. As you are not married you are not entitled to the increased credits for married persons. As you are cohabiting that rules you out from claiming lone parent tax credits. You would be entitled to claim for any unreimbursed medical expenses for your partner and child where you pay the charges. This would be done on form Med1 after the end of the tax year. Your mortgage is presumably Tax Relieved at Source (TRS) so there would not be anything further there.

Best of wishes for the impending arrival.
 
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Will the tax situation on co-habiting couples change with the introduction of civil partnerships, or will that only apply to homosexual couples?
 
Dub15 said:
My partner is pregnant with our first child. She is due in 4 weeks :). We are not married but we are living together in my house. I am paying a mortgage on this house for the past 3 years.
I was wondering if anybody can help me understand what tax breaks/credits that we might be entitled to?
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Any use?

Expecting Baby-Entitlements?
theoneill said:
Will the tax situation on co-habiting couples change with the introduction of civil partnerships, or will that only apply to homosexual couples?
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If/when there are changes in this area I would certainly expect them to apply equally to all cohabiting couples regardless of sexual orientation.
 
Folks,

Thank you for all your replies - very helpful.


Just a side note:
On the "lone parent tax credit" form it states that there are two requirements:
> Your child must be living with you for at least one night of the year.
> You must not be living "as husband and wife" with somebody.


The definition of "living as husband and wife" is a very loose one (no smart comments please ;)). But seriously, doesn't "husband and wife" indicate marriage??? Therefore, if an unmarried couple living together were to claim - would this stand up in court?? probably not but just a thought.


Thanks again



C
 
Dub15 said:
Therefore, if an unmarried couple living together were to claim - would this stand up in court?? probably not but just a thought.
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A cohabiting couple cannot legitimately claim this. To do so would be tax fraud.
 
I believe the late Seamus Brennan wanted to amend the lone parent payment to allow the father to live with the mother. It seemed that there were many families on the lower income scale that were forced to live apart because of this rule. However I have not heard anything more about this and in the current economic climate I suspect nothing will change.
 
There was a piece in the Sunday Independent yesterday about Mary Hanafin and her plans to look at the allowances that lone parents get. She said something to the effect that the allowances left no incentive to lone parents to marry, work full time or to live with father of child and that this was something that should be reviewed.
 
theoneill said:
I believe the late Seamus Brennan wanted to amend the lone parent payment to allow the father to live with the mother. ...
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This is a wind-up, isn't it? A FF solution to enable them to give dig-outs rather than receive them or is this a re-run of Scrap Saturday?
theoneill said:
.. It seemed that there were many families on the lower income scale that were forced to live apart because of this rule. ...
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But its a lone parent / single parent allowance. There's a hint as to the qualification rules in the name of the allowance.
 
You do have a point, but it doesn’t change the facts that many are that receiving the payment are caught in a trap. They would like the father to move in which would be best for the children but cant as they will loose what may be the only income keeping their head above water. I don’t know what the solution would be however there must be a better one.

Personally I feel there are many different kinds of family in the world. Having laws that just protect one, the married ones is just arrogance. I would be all for scrapping the married couples tax credit and using that money to bolster the children’s allowance.
 
excuse my ignorance but isnt the married persons tax credit the same as two single people? if they want to live together let them live together. why can't they work instead of relying on this as their only income to keep head above water?
 
Married couples with one spouse working get the "double" credit. Cohabiting couple with one partner working only get one. So the two situations are different in terms of tax treatment.
 
yeah but married couples where both work get nothing extra - why can't both parents work if they need the money? And single parents get a tax credit for being single parents if they do work don't they?
 
sandrat said:
yeah but married couples where both work get nothing extra - why can't both parents work if they need the money?
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Plenty of married or cohabiting couples find that the cost of childcare effectively precludes both from working because the net effect on take home income would be negative. Hardly rocket science.
And single parents get a tax credit for being single parents if they do work don't they?
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Yes - married or unmarried lone parents get this credit.
 
While I'm not an expert in the precise definition of living as husband and wife I think you would have a problem convincing the revenue that this is not the case as you appear to do all the things that husbands and wives do ie. living together and having a baby etc.
 
Black Sheep said:
you appear to do all the things that husbands and wives do ie. living together and having a baby etc.
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What about the important stuff...nights out with the boys/girls, 18 holes at the K, fixing the oil leak in the GTi in the driveway...;)
 
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