By . Tim Shipman and Daniel Martin . PUBLISHED: . 20:43 EST, 24 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:54 EST, 26 October 2012 . Parents will have to give highly intrusive details of their love lives to the taxman when cuts to child benefit are introduced in January, it was revealed today. Snooper squads working for HM Revenue & Customs will use credit reference agencies to probe exactly when couples get together and split up, tax experts warned yesterday. Tax experts warned that the Treasury’s plans to slash the handouts for higher earners will see adults living together being forced to reveal when they become partners. Mother and father: At present, all parents with young children are given the benefit worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for each subsequent child . Partners will also have to reveal often private details of their incomes to each other. At present, all parents with young children are given the benefit worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for each subsequent child. For a couple with two children, the handout is worth £1,752 a year. But Chancellor George Osborne is planning to cut the benefit if one parent, or both of them, is earning over £50,000 and stop it altogether where one receives £60,000. The reforms will force half a million couples to fill in a self-assessment tax form for the first time. This is because instead of those earning more than £50,000 being paid less child benefit, the Government plans to keep paying full child benefit and then to claw it back through the tax system. When parents split and, for example, the woman starts to live with a new partner who earns more than £50,000, child benefit will be clawed back from him via the tax system. Idea: Chancellor George Osborne is planning to cut the benefit if one parent, or both of them, is earning over £50,000 and stop it altogether where one receives £60,000 . The taxman will have the right to ask men and women about their living arrangements to establish if they are in a relationship and if either is a high earner. 'Couples may need to disclose their income to each other, simply to see if they are affected, which goes against the long established principle of independent taxation' Tax accountants Baker Tilly . Tax accountants Baker Tilly warned that tax advisers ‘will need to know how many weeks claimants were living as partners’ in a given year. ‘Couples may also need to disclose their income to each other, simply to see if they are affected, which goes against the long established principle of independent taxation,’ it said. Karen Clark, the firm’s head of personal tax, said: ‘Claimants will now have to establish exactly when they became, or ceased to become, a “couple” and I think many will be surprised at having to share that level of intimate detail with HMRC.’ Robin Williamson, of the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, told MPs on the Treasury select committee that the child benefit changes could be as big a shambles as Gordon Brown’s tax credits. Paperwork: The taxman will have the right to ask men and women about their living arrangements to establish if they are in a relationship and if either is a high earner . Out of date information on credit reports could lead to people who have split up being unjustly stripped of the payments. He said there was a danger that, as happened with tax credits, HMRC will falsely accuse single claimants of being part of a couple, and will therefore claw back too much tax. 'If you want to form a relationship with somebody you might have to ask them what their income is if it’s going to impact on the child benefit' Robin Williamson, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group . ‘They tend to use the credit reference agencies in order to decide whether or not someone has an undisclosed partner,’ he said. Mr Williamson added: ‘If you want to form a relationship with somebody you might have to ask them what their income is if it’s going to impact on the child benefit.’ An HMRC spokesman said: ‘Couples who do not wish to disclose their income to each other will be able to find out from HMRC what they need to know without obtaining details of the other partner’s income.’ A Treasury spokesman said: This is the simplest way of withdrawing child benefit from the wealthiest 15 per cent and avoids highly intrusive means-testing of all eight million households in the UK.’
Partners could have to reveal often private details of incomes to each other .
Currently all parents with young children get £20.30 a week for first child .
£13.40 for each subsequent child, so couple with two children receives £1,752 a year .
Osborne wants to cut benefit if one or both parents is earning £50,000 .
Chancellor is also planning to stop it altogether where one receives £60,000 .
By . Tim Shipman and Daniel Martin . PUBLISHED: . 20:43 EST, 24 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:54 EST, 26 October 2012 . Parents will have to give highly intrusive details of their love lives to the taxman when cuts to child benefit are introduced in January, it was revealed today. Snooper squads working for HM Revenue & Customs will use credit reference agencies to probe exactly when couples get together and split up, tax experts warned yesterday. Tax experts warned that the Treasury’s plans to slash the handouts for higher earners will see adults living together being forced to reveal when they become partners. Mother and father: At present, all parents with young children are given the benefit worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for each subsequent child . Partners will also have to reveal often private details of their incomes to each other. At present, all parents with young children are given the benefit worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for each subsequent child. For a couple with two children, the handout is worth £1,752 a year. But Chancellor George Osborne is planning to cut the benefit if one parent, or both of them, is earning over £50,000 and stop it altogether where one receives £60,000. The reforms will force half a million couples to fill in a self-assessment tax form for the first time. This is because instead of those earning more than £50,000 being paid less child benefit, the Government plans to keep paying full child benefit and then to claw it back through the tax system. When parents split and, for example, the woman starts to live with a new partner who earns more than £50,000, child benefit will be clawed back from him via the tax system. Idea: Chancellor George Osborne is planning to cut the benefit if one parent, or both of them, is earning over £50,000 and stop it altogether where one receives £60,000 . The taxman will have the right to ask men and women about their living arrangements to establish if they are in a relationship and if either is a high earner. 'Couples may need to disclose their income to each other, simply to see if they are affected, which goes against the long established principle of independent taxation' Tax accountants Baker Tilly . Tax accountants Baker Tilly warned that tax advisers ‘will need to know how many weeks claimants were living as partners’ in a given year. ‘Couples may also need to disclose their income to each other, simply to see if they are affected, which goes against the long established principle of independent taxation,’ it said. Karen Clark, the firm’s head of personal tax, said: ‘Claimants will now have to establish exactly when they became, or ceased to become, a “couple” and I think many will be surprised at having to share that level of intimate detail with HMRC.’ Robin Williamson, of the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, told MPs on the Treasury select committee that the child benefit changes could be as big a shambles as Gordon Brown’s tax credits. Paperwork: The taxman will have the right to ask men and women about their living arrangements to establish if they are in a relationship and if either is a high earner . Out of date information on credit reports could lead to people who have split up being unjustly stripped of the payments. He said there was a danger that, as happened with tax credits, HMRC will falsely accuse single claimants of being part of a couple, and will therefore claw back too much tax. 'If you want to form a relationship with somebody you might have to ask them what their income is if it’s going to impact on the child benefit' Robin Williamson, Low Incomes Tax Reform Group . ‘They tend to use the credit reference agencies in order to decide whether or not someone has an undisclosed partner,’ he said. Mr Williamson added: ‘If you want to form a relationship with somebody you might have to ask them what their income is if it’s going to impact on the child benefit.’ An HMRC spokesman said: ‘Couples who do not wish to disclose their income to each other will be able to find out from HMRC what they need to know without obtaining details of the other partner’s income.’ A Treasury spokesman said: This is the simplest way of withdrawing child benefit from the wealthiest 15 per cent and avoids highly intrusive means-testing of all eight million households in the UK.’
parents with young children are given the benefit worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for each subsequent child . Partners will also have to reveal often private details of their incomes to each other. At present, all with two children, the handout is worth £1,752 a to cut the benefit if one parent, or both of altogether where one receives £60,000. The Chancellor George Osborne is planning to cut the earning over £50,000 and stop it altogether where