Self employed so CSA says tuff!

Not exactly the helpful advice I was hoping for. To put my frustration into perspective, he has manged to badly ''invest'' and lose around £300k of my money during the marriage, which I''ll never see again. I have gone from having around £2k a month to live on to £200! My kids are doing without on every front because I can only just about pay the bills without any extras, which is hard for them to understand as they used to have the extras before (ballet lessons, swimming, holidays etc). So on top of all the struggle, they are seeing me as the bad guy coz I can''t afford to give them these things... AND HE GETS AWAY WITH IT while I''m not allowed to say anything bad about him, so he''s still ''lovely'' daddy!

Newtonewport - they are hardly ''MY'' kids when he gets to see them whenever he likes, and do whatever he likes with them with no recourse. AND as he doesn''t have to put in any of the effort involved with day to day bringing up of the kids - cooking, laundry, cleaning, school runs, homework, discipline, sorting disputes, making school costumes, buying uniforms and clothes, nursing when sick (particularly at 2am!)etc, etc, etc! - I think the least he can do is contribute financilaly the measly sum the CSA calculates. Think of how much it would cost if you had to pay someone to do all those things. A nanny alone would cost you way more!

Can we know a few details. Is he limited company or sole trader.
Unless he has a crooked accountant I don''t see how the CSA is letting him off unless he is paid in cash.

Yup, you got it in one - builder, so paid in cash, and all clothes, lunches at the caf (and dinners and often groceries), petrol and all other car expenses, and ''tools and equipment'' (which of course includes a new Iphone etc!) are deducted. He does his own accounting so only he knows what''s actually what.

Angie I know exactly how you feel. I''m in exactly the same boat except mine has a dodgy accountant. He''s driving round in a brand new car splashing out money through ebay, photos he put on his facebook of his new 3d tv etc the stuff he buys his new daughter i''ve shown the csa everything he''s bought they just say he could have bought it on credit cards.Surely you have to earn x amount to gain credit? apparently not. The whole system is so ridiculous its taken me 7 months to get the CSA payments I should through they disgraceful errors (although I can''t call the whole staff some genuinly are there to help.) I am apparently a massive money grabber and he pays the mortgage I know he tells everyone he pays the mortgage the truth is he can more afford than the £8 a week he pays and he doesnt pay a penny to the joint mortgage. Which the way the law seems although not consulted my sol yet he is deemed to get half when it sells even though i''ve paid it myself for 5 years him 3? You do eventually get to the point when its just not worth fighting for its tireing and consumes your life I divorced him to get him out of my life I have a new partner now after 5 years I hope to sell my house pay all my debt, rent somewhere with my new partner soon and the past will be just that Good luck I hope you do have the strength to fight back keep us updated

(((angie))) and Kippers hugs too.

The whole system is corrupt and bent as far as self empl or ltd companies are at stake.

I can really feel for both of you, as I too have just been at the other end of a lying cheating self empl person (namely stbx) and a judge who beleived every lie he told.

I don''t really know what advice to give as I''m about spent as far as fighting and the legal system is concerned. But all I can say is stay strong to yourself and your children. Apparantely ''what goes around comes around''!!!! I will await with baited breath!


Take Care both of you

Survive
x

I think that comment is a little over the top. I mean most solicitors must be self employed.

you can put a claim in at the CSA - it is likely you will struggle to get what you should if he were earning on a PAYE basis but that doesn''t mean you won''t end up with anything at all. Much depends on how clever he is, what his accountant says and how the accountant directs things in the future, whether he ''wants'' to pay etc. etc. Unfortunately, the reality is that if the HMRC accept his tax return, so do the CSA. It is possible to get a ''variation'' on the basis of ''lifestyle inconsistent with declared income'' but I don''t know of any cases where this has been successful.

You have nothing to lose. My ex is daft enough to not be paying tax and not doing things above board (all post-separation, I might add, I wouldn''t have tolerated it but it seems the girlfriend does!) and as such, made a mistaken in engaging with the CSA in the first place. As a result, I have a substantial assessment in place (more substantial than most people with a self employed ex, no where near what it would be if he were declaring properly) even if he doesn''t pay it. It''s adding up. The wheels at the CSA are turning, albeit very slowly.