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Hi
I have had a global maintenance order in place, but as my ex has recently remarried I am looking to transition on to a CMS only payment.
I work as a contractor, so I have my own limited company, through which I receive my income on the basis of a small salary and the majority as dividends.
It's pretty easy to calculate your CMS liability using the online tools if you're a salaried employee, but I can't find anything definitive to calculate my liability as a business owner. I've tried calling CMS several times and they keep telling me that this information isn't available, and I have to go through the process before getting this figure. That's not something I really want to do as I'd rather avoid the stress and hassle of ending the global order if my CMS liability is very close to what I currently pay.
When I first asked, I was told that the total of my gross salary and dividend payments from my last SA return would be used as the gross figure for calculation. I didn't get the impression the person was certain of this though, so did some more reading online. Many (mainly forum) posts suggest that the company turnover minus expenses is used as a total. This is clearly more as it would be the total before corporation tax is paid.
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/how-child-maintenance-service-calculates-your-income suggests that it's based on your NET weekly income....
Has anyone else been through this process? Able to advise how they calculated your gross income? I'm surprised this isn't a more common question.
Thanks for any help....
Hi There,
It's my understanding that as you have a limited company, you are in effect employed and you earn a wage from the limited company, so they wouldn't look at the company turn over, they will look at the wage you draw.
They would base your payment on your taxable income so would include your wage and also the dividends,
GTTS
Hello Jandle
The Child Maintenance Service (the Government's statutory maintenance service) generally work out maintenance based on the gross weekly income of the parent paying maintenance.
With regards to how your maintenance payments would be worked out as a business owner, you may find helpful information about this in the 'How we work out child maintenance' leaflet. This is a comprehensive guide that has been provided by the Child Maintenance Service themselves, and goes into detail about their calculation process.
It is unclear in your post where you currently reside, so please be aware that this information is relevant to people who live in the UK.
You may be interested to know that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a website, Sorting out Separation. It aims to make it much easier when you are separated to find the support you need, when and where you need it on a range of concerns, including, money, housing, employment, legal and parenting apart. You can view the website at https://www.sortingoutseparation.org.uk/.
Kind Regards
William
I went through the same issues. Initially when I moved from employed to my own Ltd company, CMS asked me for an estimate of my company profits for the first year and based the award on that. The next year(eventually and after many twists & turns), with my first years accounts completed, the figure was worked out on my salary and dividends combined. There was a confusing element in that when previously employed, my assessment was based on gross payments, less pension, but as Limited it is essentially net, as corporation tax is not taken into account.
This resulted in my ex receiving less as a result of how they assess, which she was not at all happy about, and resulted in her appealing to tribunal for undeclared income. If it gets to that point then they will look at your total turnover(less expenses and pension) and likely award on that.
My advice is to try and get a voluntary arrangement with your ex, otherwise with CMS involved and constant appeals and reassessments prompted by your ex, it can be very wearying.......
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