§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Inland Revenue monitors(a) whether customers receiving the married couples tax allowances are living permanently together and if this is required before they receive the married couples tax allowance and (b) if customers receiving the additional personal tax allowance 243W in respect of dependent children are living with those children, and if it is a condition of the tax allowance that those claiming it live with such children. [71892]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe married couples allowance is available to a married couple who live together at some time during a year of assessment. A husband and wife are treated as living together for income tax purposes unless they are separated under a court order or by a deed of separation, or they are in fact separated and the separation is likely to remain permanent.
The additional personal allowance is available to people who are not living with a spouse (or who live with a spouse who is totally incapacitated) and who have one or more qualifying children resident with them at some time during a year of assessment.
The Inland Revenue treat claims to personal tax allowances in much the same way as other claims to relief, Revenue staff apply risk assessment procedures in order to identify potentially incorrect claims. If the Revenue have a reason to believe that an allowance is being falsely claimed, they have powers to make appropriate inquiries and recover any tax lost.