CSA and the self employed

I absolutely do not know where to turn to and really would appreciate some advice please.

I have been separated for 18months and my ex has sporadically paid £200 per month for our two children. He left the marital home in 2008 and makes no contribution to joint mortgage or bills. So as you can imagine any child support contribution is very necessary to our children's welfare. He is self employed and I think this is totally working against me in all aspects and I don't know what to do.

I never did think £200 was acceptable but he was unwilling and unable to disclose his earnings until July this year.

His unaudited accounts showed drawings of £30,000 but this is not disclosed in his tax returns. The business is not making a profit but he still lives a good lifestyle - 3 holidays a year, golf club and health club etc.

I contacted the CSA on advice of my sol and they have said he has a nil assessment which means he has to pay nothing - because apparently he earns less than £5 per week. Is this right? What can I do? How can someone walk away yet continue to fund a lifestyle with no thought for his children. Please help me with advice, who can I turn to and what should I do? Does this happen to other people?

I contacted the CSA on advice of my sol and they have said he has a nil assessment which means he has to pay nothing - because apparently he earns less than £5 per week. Is this right? What can I do? How can someone walk away yet continue to fund a lifestyle with no thought for his children. Please help me with advice, who can I turn to and what should I do? Does this happen to other people?

Unfortunately all this means is that your ex has submitted accounts stating that he earns "a pittance!"

You have the right to appeal this decision, within 28 days (I think).

My S/E ex pulled the same stunt and I was awarded £0:00 in arrears and any future payments. (Our children were in private education - certainly not funded on my income alone.)

My ex even went to court (paid the costs) from Dec '08 until May '09 so that he wouldn't have to pay any child maintenance.

Like your ex, "it" refused to disclose accounts. Initially I was awarded £216 per month - at that time 3 children still in school - never seen a penny of it.

Works out at £2:57 per child per day!

To be perfectly honest with you - given that your ex is refusing to pay child maintenance - you are going to have a fight on your hands regarding any thing else relating to finances.

Sorry to sound harsh but money is a "God" to my ex to the extent that he left our 3 children and I literally on the streets with what we were standing in, in order to "keep every penny of his money!"

Best wishes - hope you have better luck than me

I'm in the same position as you. I was advised to inform the taxman, stating any evidence such as lifestyle etc. I know if my ex's accounts were audited, he would be in big trouble with the tax man, as he sells the goods he buys for cash, and then pockets the money! He's never been audited, probably never will. Sorry I don't have anything positive to tell you. Good luck anyway

unfortunatley the csa are only in existence to collect child maintenance from one party and pass to another and there are a large number of cases where self employed people claim to only earn £50 a week which gives them a very small assesment. you may be able to apply for a variation of income which you should be able to find info on their websita about, however if you do this you must provide the evidence which a lot of people cant get their hands on so most of the time your best bet is to report them to the tax office

What about if a person is self-employed but is not earning his income in cash? What if he invoices other companies and he is paid into a business bank account? surely then he cannot hide the amount of income his company has actually received from the taxman? And if the CSA have his National insurance number they can check the amount of taxes he has paid and so his income?

Any comments on this please? I am trying to decide whether I should agree with my ex through a private agreement or whether I should go through the CSA? He keeps telling me that because he is self-employed he will make it so that he is earning the minimum wage and so the child maintenance amount will be next to nothing. He doesnt want to go to the CSA and he says if I went to them they will calculate for him to pay a lot less than he is offering at the moment through private agreement.

I dont know what to do...

the csa will not be able to investigate his income they have to believe what their clients are telling them otherwise they would be seen to be taking sides which they cannot do. the inland revenue are responsible for investigating these issues. for an assesment to be completed the csa base the assesment on last years tax return unless there is good reason to use current accounts, i would suggest you ring child maintenca options which is a freephone number they canb advise you the best way to act, the chances are if he wangles his accounts you will only be offered £5 a week

This raises some questions:

How do the CSA and the Courts assess self-employed people's incomes? Does this differ depending on whether they have limited companies or are sole proprietors?

Is income determined through audited accounts, tax returns or bank statements?

I would have thought accounts would be used for limited companies and that tax returns are not used at all. Is this the case? And how do the CSA and the courts differ?