Incapacitated child tax credit

Kittykat

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My son is 5 and has a diagnosis of autism. The criteria for this credit is that your child will be deemed permanently incapacitated beyond the age of 18 and therefore it would be deemed that they would not be able to maintain themselves past the age of 18. It is a tax credit of 3,300. In order to receive it you must have a letter from gp stating that the above is their opinion . I applied for this for my son approx 2 years ago and received it. We have had intensive intervention since then and a lot has changed for the better in the last two years so much so that I am not happy claiming this credit anymore . It was applied for at the time in complete honesty as that was truly the position at the time . Can anyone advise me what to do ? Do I just cancel the credit ? Would I have to pay it back? ( although as stated while claiming I 100% was happy with this , certain changes in my ds are now making me reconsider ) any advice appreciated . Thank you .
 
Tk you for your prompt reply . Apologies in advance as this is my first time posting ... I cannot see where I can access a pm ... I have searched through the FAQ ... I cannot see a notification tab.
 
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Hi KittyKat,

Apologies for not getting back sooner and for all the cloak and dagger approach regarding your query.
Essentially our family is in an identaical suituation. Our youngest has been diagnosed for the past 3 years. He will be 6 this coming March.
The past 3 years have been turbelent to say the least. We threw ourselves into overdrive to try and overcome both the diagnosis and the obstacles that we would be facing. All the time our fella was our prime directive and we used all means possible to get him access to OT and Specch Therapy - both private and public (not that theres a lot available publicly - unless your willing to wait).
We first overcame the awful fact that Autisim is for life - harsh but oh so true. We spent every penny we could between OT /ST / group sessions, assessments etc etc. This does not come cheap. So the Incapacitated child tax credit does stretch a bit and we made it work.
Today, our fella is in Junior Infants in a mainstream school. They have an ASD unit which he attends and part-takes in the main classes as and when he can. He can now read to quiet a proficient degree and can still argue with his olders siblings and classmates. An improvment - oh yes. But what will the future bring??
We have cut his OT & SP for the moment. He seems not to need it. As for the tax - we are putting it aside for him. This was on the advice we got from an independant Financail Advisor who deals specifically with parents of special needs kids. I can't recommend him enough. He really did turn our lives around and set down some real home truths.
What does the future hold for our little fella - who knows. But with this tax being put aside for him at least this is one worry we won't have to deal with.
I would say keep it and save it. I can give you our FA's name. He's based in Cork but works country wide. He has been mentioned on this site before - nothing but good I asure you.
Feel free to get back to me at any stage.
Should have realised about the PM settings.
Regards,
TP.
 
Tiredpaul, thank you for your very honest and detailed reply . I guess my concern is that ds will have the label 'permanently incapacitated ' linked to his pps number and I'm not really sure now that this is going to be the case .... It concerns me as to the reason why the tax office are so specific in the wording that they require . What if my son applies for college or a job .... Will he be deemed not suitable because he is 'permanently incapacitated ' ? So this is where my problem is.... If I don't feel happy claiming credit anymore , leaving emotions etc to one side , from the point of view of tax office what do I do .... Do I just go online and cancel it ? Would they look for me to return any monies ( although I don't agree if they done because credit has been claimed in good faith etc)
 
KittyKat,
To be honest I'm not qualified to answer any of the tax related queries - I can only speak of our experience to date. I would advise to get professional tax advice.
Another avenue is get access to Autism Mamai's on Facebook (beware of Mommies as this tends to USA based). This is a private group but once you register they will get back to you and take if from there. My better half got soooooooooo much info from this group it was unbelievable. This group are in the know about everything ASD related. And its real people dealing with real issues.
If and when you get to the ten post mark I can send you details of the FA we used. I really can't recommend him enough (I'm not touting business for him but I feel that you need professional advice first).
Remember don't make any rash decisions as this could affect decisions for your son later on in life.
 
Tks again. Im a member of that group . It's also very helpful . Mixed opinions re above . Yes I need to find out more in regard to how to approach the tax situation with the tax office. Tks again .
 
Hi Tired Paul, you can name the FA here.

Thanks Leo,

KittyKat,

We dealt with a guy called Allen Cuthbert and he runs his own company called Financial Wellbeing. As I said he is Cork based but does work nationwide. You should google him and check him out. As I said before - can't recommend him enough.

cheers,
TP.
 
I used to be a frequent poster, under a different handle. I haven't posted in a while - I want to just add, as I have a son with Autism and currently debating whether I should apply for the Incapacitated child tax credit. I am really just concerned that if my son achieves any degree of independence - he'll be punished by the revenue for our claim, or we will be asked to return the funds. We are in receipt of DCA, and he has significant autistic behaviours - I have to say, I found financialwellbeing really good and informative.

So thank you all for posting and sharing. I will go ahead with the application - with a bit more peace of mind.
PinkyBear.

 
I would apply for it as if his condition stays the same or deteriorates he won't be in a position to support himself and you can't be expected to predict the future. We claimed for our daughter who was born with several severe congenital heart defects and was not given long to live. Thankfully she thrived and made great improvements after each surgery so around 10 years of age a review letter arrived and I completed it saying that there had been significant improvements in her condition and removed the tax credit from revenue online. That was the last I heard of it 6 years ago and she will be able without doubt to live independently post 18 years.
 
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