VIC Child Support Agency from Trawling Through Company Financials?

[Jacqui mg]

I have personally funded a company to provide my husband with the opportunity to work. I refinanced a house I owned long before meeting him. He is on a salary of 43K which is a good salary for his skills and qualifications.

When my accountant originally set up the company, he put my husband as a director, he then removed him after a couple of months, as his financial track record was not great, therefore should not have been a director of a company. Since then (4 years) I have been the sole director of the company and he has earned a salary. He is a beneficiary, although there has never been any profits distributed as there have not been any profits.

Child Support puts his capacity to earn at 105k which his CSA payments have been based on, he has 50% care of the kids, so essentially has $440 a week after CSA payments to live on and support his kids. I do not profit at all from the company and work another job to pay the bills and mortgage and to help him support his kids.

Child Support Agency keep trawling through my company financials and are using the excuse that he was once a director of the company.

Any help on how to get CSA to stop trawling through my financials would be helpful. And any help on getting CSA to acknowledge my husband's income as per his tax returns would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Tim W]

In short and simple, they can check anything they like
in order to be sure that what they are being told about money is the truth.
They can check anything they like see if anyone is hiding any money (people try this a lot).

What do you mean when you say he is a "beneficiary"?
The most usual way to receive a share of profit is by a dividend payment.
In order for that to occur, then your husband would need to be a shareholder.
Share dividends can form part of a person's assessable income for Child Support.

 

[Jacqui mg]

In short and simple, they can check anything they like
in order to be sure that what they are being told about money is the truth.
They can check anything they like see if anyone is hiding any money (people try this a lot).

What do you mean when you say he is a "beneficiary"?
The most usual way to receive a share of profit is by a dividend payment.
In order for that to occur, then your husband would need to be a shareholder.
Share dividends can form part of a person's assessable income for Child Support.

Thanks for your response Tim

The company is trustee for our family trust. There are no dividends as we have either not made a profit, or there has been no cash to distribute as it has been sucked up into the business debt.

 

[Tim W]

Let me see if I understand this correctly....

Your estranged husband is employed, at an artificially low wage,
by a company whose function is to be trustee of your family's assets?

And you are using trust proceeds to fund an otherwise unprofitable
and possibly insolvent company?

You seem to be in a spectacular mess.

 

[Jacqui mg]

Let me see if I understand this correctly....

Your estranged husband is employed, at an artificially low wage,
by a company whose function is to be trustee of your family's assets?

And you are using trust proceeds to fund an otherwise unprofitable
and possibly insolvent company?

You seem to be in a spectacular mess.

Hi Tim

Sorry I have not explained it correctly. He is not my estranged husband, he is my actual husband, he is on the correct wage for his trade. His ex ( whom he has 3 kids to) of which he has 50% custody of keeps getting CSA to reassess the payments, so they keep digging into my company financials, of which he is no more than a beneficiary of the trust of which the Company is the Trustee of, but has never received any company profits as there hasn't been any.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Is the only thing concerning you that they keep going over the same ground?

 

[sammy01]

How much child support does he pay? So he earns $45k but is assessed at $105k?

Appeal to the AAT? On the grounds that they have not followed the correct process in determining his income...

 

[Jacqui mg]

Is the only thing concerning you that they keep going over the same ground?

No, they get deeper and deeper each time, as they keep finding nothing to help them increase his payments further, this time they are asking for MY loan bank statements as I fund the company via refinancing my mortgage. They have sent a letter to my accountant demanding them, and they said they have to provide them. I am the new partner, the children are not mine and I really don't like them trawling through my personal finances.

We also have the issue of the inflated capacity to earn which means his payments are 1/3 of his salary, leaving him only $440 per week to live on, it has been this way for 3 years now, they won't budge on their belief that he can earn 104K if he wanted to, but his trade is a "chef", no chef earns that much. The most he ever earnt was a role where he was on 60K about 8 years ago, but that was short lived.

 

[Jacqui mg]

how much child support does he pay?

So he earns $45k but is assessed at $105k?

Appeal to the AAT? On the grounds that they have not followed the correct process in determining his income...

Tried that, they said that the CSA can not be overruled in their determination of "capacity to earn"

 

[Rod]

Get the advice of a lawyer. You should look at taking CSA to court if they are exceeding their authority.