Couple - one British citizen, the other a person from abroad who was an overstayer. So he had no legal status in UK, & was subject to immigration control. I have checked Tax Credit Immigration Regs. & he is not within any of the cases which can claim TCs.

The British citizen claimed TCs as single parent. Later found out & claim terminated & all money paid to be repaid.

But he was not entitled to TCs (because he did not come within the 2003 Regs.), so his inclusion in the claim would have resulted in payments which were contrary to the Regs.

So what should the British citizen have done? It seems to be a Catch 22. Does it mean that in these cases the British citizen (who is entitled to TCs) cannot claim them? Or is it arguable that it was correct to claim as a single parent (probably not, as that contravenes other Regs.!)?

Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Case 5 para (2) of the Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations says:
"Where one member of a couple is a person subject to immigration control and the other is not...the calculation of the amount of tax credit under the Act including any second adult element or other element in respect of or determined by reference to that person...shall ...be determined in the same way as if the person was not subject to such control".

So the British Citizen should have claimed on the couple basis for him/herself and the overstayer. The problem arose from claiming as a lone parent because, just as in the analogous rules for income support etc, the claimant is NOT in fact a lone parent and is not allowed to claim on that basis.

Ariadne:

Many thanks. My apologies - - I had mis-read Reg. 3(2)!