Re1196 - Maintenance payments: Child Support Agency Assessments

Payments under a CSA assessment are required from an 'effective date' which may be earlier than that on which the assessment was made. For example, if the absent parent (the payer) asked for an assessment to be made in respect of a child in the care of his separated or former spouse, the assessment will require payments from the date his application was received by the CSA, even though the assessment was actually made some weeks later.

In working out tax relief, only take account of payments due and made on or after the date of the CSA assessment itself, unless

• the payments were due and made under an earlier interim assessment, see Re1197, or
• the assessment varies an earlier assessment, court order or legal agreement and the payments can be regarded as made under that earlier CSA assessment, court order or legal agreement, see Re1129 and Re1130.

A payment which is stated as being for a period prior to the date on which a CSA assessment is made is regarded as `due' for tax purposes only on the date the assessment is made.

Example

A new CSA assessment made on 15 January 1995 requires payments to a parent with care for a child of £30 per week from 15 October 1994.

The payments which are stated as being for the period from

15 October 1994 to 14 January 1995 are not `due' until 15 January 1995 for tax purposes.

If all the payments are made on or after 15 January 1995, relief is due on £750 calculated as follows.

Payments due for retrospective period

15 October 1995 to 14 January 1995 (13 weeks x £30) = £390

Payments due to end of tax year 
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If any of the payments were actually made before 15 January 1995, then relief cannot be given for those payments. In this case if the 13 weekly payments for the period 15 October 1994 to 14 January 1995 were made before 15 January 1995, then relief could only be given for the £360 paid for the period 15 January 1995 to 5 April 1995.