My partner can’t work anymore – how can we be expected to pay?

December 18, 2013

my partner was a sub-contractor and since now he cant work due to his knees (was a floor layer) csa is still sending us bills for child support,even tho he isnt working.

got a letter from his previous employer to say he no longer works for them. He has tried talking to them,they dont return calls and they say he has to do his last tax or they will keep sending them..

we simply cant afford to pay an accountant,but they say it doesnt matter. for the first year it was apparently fine just to have the letter but now they want a tax return..

he cant even collect unemployment because we live as a couple and I work..please help or advise we dont know what to do and the $1200 a month bills keep coming 🙁

Comments

  • anon says:

    If he has stopped working completely and does not intend to work again (for the forseeable future) then the tax return is irrelevant. They should be able to implement a NIL assessment there and then.

    If it is a temporary lay off, and he doesn’t work or have income for a few weeks, then this will be reflected in his next tax return and this will be used to work out an assessment amount for next year.

    Unfortunately, the system is pretty flawed when it comes to self employed assessments.

  • Andrew Anderson says:

    No income is no income, I don’t know the self-employed segment of the CSA, however the same rules apply, its a percentage of that persons income.. now on no income, what’s a percentage of nothing????…….. yeah.. nil rate as the above said.

    Despite what peter brown said above, the best way to do with CSA is on the phone, its faster, everything they do by post takes 7 days and anything you send in needs to be in by the 7th day (the date on the letter they’d send you), and then the time it takes to get to a caseworker…

    Phone calls to CSA should be planned like a letter.
    Write the questions down and don’t end the call till you are answered or have something concrete. ALL calls are recorded, and “freetext” into their system, you can even order a copy, i think its like £10 for a cd of the phone call.

    also, make sure it is your partner telling them unless you’re an authorised third-party. messages from employers have a 28 day wait before they can be acted upon, unless you contact them in the mean time. Not all of them are “scum” as peter put it, if you don’t like who you are talking to, ask to speak to-someone who’s worked on the case in the past, always get names of people you talk to.

    the only time you cant talk to others is when the case moves segment, like from client service to debt enforcement, etc.

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