Undisclosed Partners: Recovery of Overpayment for cases opened before 17 May 2007 - Notional Entitlement Where A Partner Still Lives With The Customer

Where the customer is still living with the undisclosed partner you will calculate the notional entitlement as if the couple have made a joint claim at the correct time. To calculate the notional entitlement you should go through the following steps.

Step 1

Advise the customer you might be able to waive part of the overpayment if they can produce complete and accurate details of their partner’s income for the period concerned. You can accept their partner’s P60 or a payslip which shows the full income for the year or duplicate details provided by the partner’s employer or the figure of profits used on the SA return. If the partners employer pays the benefits in kind through the payroll they could be included in the P60 figure. The partner may need to adjust the figures from their P60 before providing us with their employment income. See TCM0118220 for Benefits in Kind that are excluded for Tax Credit purposes. If the partner has other income this must also be disclosed. You will need to remind the customer that the details of their partner’s income must include earnings, certain benefits in kind, pensions, investment income etc. You can accept the details direct from the partner but do not disclose details of the claim or your enquiry to the partner. If the customer provides details of their partner’s income - go to Step 2.
If the customer cannot or will not provide these details, go to Step 4.

Step 2

If details of the partner’s income are provided check whether the partner has been included in another claim for the period under review. If the partner has also made a claim as a single customer see CCM15565. If the partner has already been included in another claim with a different partner go to step 4. If the partner has not been included in another claim check whether the details provided agree those held on our internal records. Some employers are adding Benefits in Kind to the total taxable pay shown on the P60. If there is a discrepancy between the income figure shown on the PAYE system and the partners income that has been provided you must check with the employer to establish if the Benefits in Kind have been included on the P60. See TCM0118220 for Benefits in Kind that are excluded for Tax Credit purposes. If the P60 includes any of the Benefits in Kind listed deduct them from the P60 income figure.
If the details provided agree our own records, go to Step 3.
If the details provided do not agree our own records, go to Step 4.
If the details provided agree our own records but you believe the partner has other sources of income or has understated their income, go to Step 4.

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Step 3

Use the tax credits calculator on SEES to calculate the amount the couple would have been entitled to had they made a correct joint claim at the correct time. This should include income for both parties and any other information which you established for example allowable childcare costs.

Your calculations will cover the period from the date the partner joined the household (or 6 April 2003 if later) to the date on which any new award began. If a new claim as a couple has not yet been made then assume a claim is made that day and is backdated for 3 months.

A calculation must be made for each tax year and the calculation for the CY will be based on the provisional payments that would have been made. This calculation gives you the notional entitlement and you should make this calculation available to the customer.

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Step 4

If the customer cannot or will not provide details of their partner’s income you must tell the customer we cannot reduce the overpayment and you should take steps to settle the case based on the gross overpayment. The onus is on the customer to provide these details. It is not your responsibility to gather the information and you must not take the details from our internal records.

If the details supplied by the customer do not agree with the details on our records or the partner has been included in another claim or you believe the partner has understated their income, you must tell the customer that after review we cannot reduce the overpayment. You should then take steps to settle the case based on the gross overpayment. It is the customer’s responsibility to produce full details of their partner’s income or circumstances.

Where there is a minor discrepancy between the figures supplied by the customer and our own records you should use the figure supplied by the customer. (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

Examples of the calculation of notional entitlement can be found at CCM15535, CCM15540 and CCM15550.

Claimant Compliance Manual