Chapter 5: Qualifying maintenance payments
Overview
1292.This Chapter provides relief as a tax reduction at Step 6 of the tax calculation (see section 23) for individuals who make qualifying maintenance payments. It is based on section 347B of ICTA.
1293.Maintenance payments have been exempt from income tax since 6 April 2000. And in general no relief is available for those who pay them. But a measure of relief remained available if at least one party to a marriage was 65 or over before 6 April 2000, in line with corresponding changes made at the same time to married couple’s allowance.
1294.Since 5 December 2005, when the Tax and Civil Partnership Regulations 2005 came into force, relief has been extended to civil partners. And, in relation to payments for children, it was also extended to cover payments between parents who were never married and payments between any two individuals if the child was treated as a child of their family.
1295.The transitional arrangements in section 38 of FA 1988 for maintenance paid under obligations that existed in 1988 came to an end on 5 April 2000 (see section 36 of FA 1999) and are spent. Accordingly, they are repealed by this Act.
Section 453: Tax reduction for qualifying maintenance payments
1296.This section provides for a tax reduction if an individual makes qualifying maintenance payments. It is based on section 347B(2), (3) and (5A) of ICTA.
1297.Relief has to be claimed and is given for the year in which the payments are due. The relief is 10% of the amount of the payments, but is capped by reference to the minimum amount of married couple’s allowance for the year. For 2006-07 that amount is £2,350 so the maximum tax reduction is £235.
1298.The rules in section 347(5A) and (5B) of ICTA giving the priority between this relief and other tax reductions, and providing that relief cannot reduce liability below nil, are not set out here. They are contained in the general rules applying to all tax reductions in Chapter 3 of Part 2.
Section 454: Meaning of “qualifying maintenance payment”
1299.This section sets out the conditions that must be satisfied for relief to be due. It is based on section 347B(1), (1A), (7), (8) and (11) of ICTA.
1300.Condition A requires that the payment be paid either for the maintenance of a party to the marriage or civil partnership or for the maintenance of a child.
1301.In relation to payments for the maintenance of the other party to the marriage or civil partnership, they must be made to the other party.
1302.In relation to payments for the maintenance of a child, they must be made by one parent to the child’s other parent or be between any two persons for the maintenance of a relevant child of theirs. “Relevant child” is defined in subsection (9). Relief is not due if the order or agreement provides for payments direct to a child.
1303.Condition C requires the payment to be made under certain types of court order or written agreement that apply in member States. Later subsections provide that payments under child support legislation are also included.
1304.Condition D specifies that, in relation to a payment for the other spouse or civil partner, the parties must not be a married couple living together or civil partners living together. If the marriage or civil partnership has formally ceased, the recipient must not have remarried or entered into a new civil partnership (whether or not that new marriage or civil partnership has since come to an end). If the payment is for a child, the condition is that the payer and the recipient are not living together.
1305.Condition E specifies that relief must not be due for the payment under any other provision. This caters for the possibility that the payment of interest on a loan to buy an annuity for the other party (and for which relief is due under section 365 of ICTA) may constitute maintenance.
1306.Subsections (7) and (8) provide that maintenance calculations made under the Child Support Act 1991 and maintenance assessments made under the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (SI 1991/2628(NI 23)) are treated as made under a court order. The transitional provision in Part 9 of Schedule 2 ensures that maintenance assessments in the rest of the United Kingdom which have not yet been replaced by maintenance calculations are treated in the same way.
1307.In the source legislation for subsection (7) the reference was to an order made by a court in the United Kingdom. It is here replaced by a reference to a court in a member state to tie in with the wording in subsection (4). This is not a change in the law.
Section 455: Child support maintenance payments
1308.This section ensures that condition A in section 454 is treated as satisfied in certain cases where the maintenance payment for a child is not made to the other party. It is based on section 347B(9) and (10) of ICTA.
1309.In certain circumstances, the maintenance for a child may be paid instead to the Secretary of State or the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for Northern Ireland. This section treats condition A as satisfied in those cases.
Section 456: Payments under orders for recovery of benefit etc
1310.This section treats condition A in section 454 as satisfied in relation to certain maintenance payments under “recovery of benefit orders”. It is based on section 347B(12) and (13) of ICTA.
1311.In certain circumstances, the party entitled to the maintenance may receive income support or jobseeker’s allowance which is recovered from the party liable to pay the maintenance under a “recovery of benefit order” (see subsection (2)). Such payments are treated as satisfying condition A.
