Attendance Allowance

[lankeela]

Is it taxable? I know it isn't for the person who is getting it but if they pay someone else to attend to them do they have to pay tax on it? For example I regularly visit someone and deliver dog food and pick up medicines etc, and sometimes take them shopping - just a friend doing a favour but a lady from social services visited the other day and said this person was entitled to Attendance Allowance and could give me something for my fuel costs/time. Its not something I would have though of asking for, but if they are going to pay it then I would accept it but not if I was going to end up being taxed on it.

[Jackdaw33]

No. The allowance is paid to the patient, not you.

[Buenchico]

Tax free:
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/benefits-entitlements/attendance-allowance

[jno]

I don't know, but I would have thought if it was income, you'd pay income tax on it. I'm not sure it would be enough to put you in a higher bracket, though, so why not take it?

[jno]

lankeela knows it is for the patient not the carer, but if the patient passes it on to the carer...?

[woofgang]

Is she employing you? Do you HAVE to turn up? The money is called attendance allowance but the person who gets it gets it because of the level of their disability and can spend it on what they like...including reimbursing a friend for petrol and so on. Paying you for your time is IMO a little more problematic...but as she can't get out to shop, she can definitely give you a cash gift from time to time instead of buying you flowers etcetera.

[Apc2604]

Definitely not taxable however much your income is. I know because I get it.

[Apc2604]

And yes you can use it as you like. No questions asked.

[Buenchico]

Oops!

I've just re-read your post. What you'd be receiving wouldn't be 'Attendance Allowance' (even if the person paying you the money used their Attendance Allowance to fund it). It would simply be payment of your expenses. As such, it wouldn't be classed as 'income' by HMRC (as long as the 'time' element of the payment was only small), so you shouldn't need to pay tax on it.

[lankeela]

I wouldn't stop helping her if it was, and would never have asked for anything but now being of pension age myself and having cut down my working hours by half any spare cash is hard to find, so it would help. I just didn't want to end up losing money to the taxman.

[THECORBYLOON]

As you are, in effect, a volunteer, money paid for reimbursement of expenses is not taxable.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim71100

I did read that about 13% of folk in receipt of AA use it to pay for petrol expenses.

[gulliver1]

22.37 APC , Seems like a big fiddle then according to you.

[woofgang]

no gully but it is misnamed.

[Jackdaw33]

I don't claim it but am thinking of doing so. I am virtually housebound and cannot walk far. I have to pay a lady who comes in two hours per week and does my cleaning and shopping. This costs me £40 per week. The only thing deterring me is that the application form is apparently 20 pages long.

[THECORBYLOON]

A link to the AA claim form is here.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/attendance-allowance-claim-form

It might seem intimidating at first but if you answer three or four questions a day, you could do it in about a week.

[woofgang]

Jackdaw and answer the questions as you are on your worst day.

[Jackdaw33]

Thank you very much for that, TCL. Most useful.

[THECORBYLOON]

Yes, complete it as if you're at your worst, put as much detail as you can and good luck!

[Apc2604]

Gulliver, I am quite severely disabled and not capable now of coping alone. So why do you see me getting attendance allowance as a big fiddle? You don't know my circumstances. You are a complete fool!

[Apc2604]

And Gulliver 'The no questions asked' is not part of the application. Once you get the Attendance Allowance they don't ask questions about what you are doing with it. In my case most of it has been spent of buying specialised equipment. And my OH is my carer and, being of pension age, he isn't eligible for Carers Allowance. And believe it or not because I am over pension age I am not eligible for any disability benefits.