Commentary on Sections Overview Overview
1292.This Chapter provides relief as a tax reduction at Step 6 of the tax calculation (see section 23) for individuals who make qualifying maintenance payments. It is based on section 347B of ICTA.
1293.Maintenance payments have been exempt from income tax since 6 April 2000. And in general no relief is available for those who pay them. But a measure of relief remained available if at least one party to a marriage was 65 or over before 6 April 2000, in line with corresponding changes made at the same time to married couple’s allowance.
1294.Since 5 December 2005, when the Tax and Civil Partnership Regulations 2005 came into force, relief has been extended to civil partners. And, in relation to payments for children, it was also extended to cover payments between parents who were never married and payments between any two individuals if the child was treated as a child of their family.
1295.The transitional arrangements in section 38 of FA 1988 for maintenance paid under obligations that existed in 1988 came to an end on 5 April 2000 (see section 36 of FA 1999) and are spent. Accordingly, they are repealed by this Act.