Help CSA

[Hannahs Mum]

My husband has been off work for 18 months due to serious illness.
He has been on sickness benefits, this has left us in debt.
He is now working at a new job.
We have been paying the minimum amount of child support for my DSD, so we haven't been bothered with sending in our new parenting plan.
In our new plan which is over 1 1/2 yrs old my DSD spends a substantial amout of care with out eversecond weekend and school holidays etc.
I know this will reduce the amount of CS we pay. I just didn't think it was worth it and her mother is working full time so could possible have had to pay us money.
Anyway do you need to notify CSA of a change of employment straight away, or do you just wait till tax time? We have done this in the past with no problems.

I dont want to have to back pay heaps.
has anyone been in a similar situation?

[whatwasithinking]

I'd let them know now because you will have a big bill to pay at the end if you just wait to lodge the tax return. - Lodge an estimate.

[pegasus]

If it's more than a 15% difference then they will want to know. (If less than 15% then I think they let it slide).

Depends a bit on how you and hubby get on with his ex as if you've had a change regarding amount of care which you haven't informed them of then there might be a bit of give and take. If you get on okay with her then you can reach a private agreement.

Just a note on the amount of care - currently it's still 110nights a year you have to have her to get a change in amount of support paid. It will change in 2008 to being a lesser amount of time. (Forgot how much). If you have her more than 36nights, however, you can claim a percentage of the FTB for her, and if ex gets the full amount, she'll have to pay some back.

[mythreelittlemonkeys]

id let them know...always better to be upfront...I would also claim for the amount you have them...I think the amount of time come 2008 Pegasus talking about is over 52 days a year...but dont quote me...

[Olismum]

Hi, you need to tell them straight away if any of your circumstances change to have the amount adjusted. If you let it go you run the risk of having your tax refund intercepted if it turns out that you owe back pay. This is what happened to us, because we waited 7 weeks to tell them about the birth of our new daughter.