Is 'housekeeping' classed as income?

I have a friend who has never worked. She's been a family carer and mother all of her adult life. Still, she'll be entitled to a basic pension from the state - everyone is!

She isn’t right paddyanne not since the pension rules changed about 5 years ago. She needs to get a pension prediction I think, she will be shocked to see how little she will get, I hope she got an alternative source of income too.

I have a friend who has never paid NI ,doesn't bother her and shes adamant that she WILL get a full pension "because what else would I live on " maybe she's right and those of us who take responsibility for our senior years are mad...if you can just not pay and still get apension why bother.I'm a WASPI ,I worked(and still would except for covid) from I was 15 until I was 66 for my state pension ,by my reckoning the DWP have fiddled me out of around £52000 .I should probably have sat on my backside at home "bringing up a family" though I managed that too while running businesses etc .Still paying tax on my pension ,I wonder which one of us is stupid!!

Individual choices might be valid, but that doesn’t mean that they make economic sense, sadly. It doesn’t mean people aren’t contributing - in fact, this is a good argument for something like Universal Basic Income, where our income isn’t based on labour.

I have sisters, and we all have different work histories. However the govt seems to expect us all to be able to work for 35 years, so we can get a full pension - if fewer, you'll get a percentage of a full pension. (As has been mentioned, NI was paid for the years Child Benefit was claimed. I never knew that)
Likewise I didn't know that lifelong Widow's Pension was replaced by 3 yes of payments.
Sadly they change the rules to save money (but that money is coming directly out if our pockets) and expect us to magically know.
Hope2021 apply for what is rightfully yours

Check your entitlement on the government pension calculator.
Housekeeping is not earned income it is for expensrs in keeping the household going. If you are not married then you will not qualify for under husband's contributions but you may be entitled to pension credit for years at home with children. Get into the gov.ul website with your national insurance number and you will see what you are entitled to, state pension wise.

hope2021 I am sorry to hear about your illness too.

I do think, though, that you could find out about a possible pension just in case you are entitled to one soon.

As far as tax is concerned, no, you should not be liable. Someone seems to be too diligent at HMRC!

I am the same as you, OP. I gave up working, partly due to work reasons, and mainly because I wanted to be a stay at home Mum. My youngest was 2 at the time and I went on to have another child when he was 10. He is now in his second year of Uni. My oldest daughter is 37. I have been parenting for 35 years so it is easily done.
I made my life choices but whilst I have not contributed to direct taxation, I have certainly paid my dues from my husband's pocket, indirectly. Furthermore, I have been a volunteer within schools, an unpaid carer and an unpaid Area Co-ordinator for a thriving Charity. I absolutely refute that I have been subsidised by the State; I plugged holes that they should have been filling by offering my services for free. I also earned reasonably well before I 'retired' so I paid my taxes directly and indirectly for that too.

Sorry, hope2021, we cross posted.

I'm sorry to hear of your illness, and wish you well.

most benefits are means tested, not all are, especially some that relate to illness, including terminal illness. I didn't know that, as (luckily) I haven't need to claim for illness-related benefits, so thanks for pointing it out.

That is why I asked about whether the OP was asking about benefits, though. It is really unclear what it is that she wants to know, as there is no indication of why HMRC would be asking her about her source of income.

Bluecat - I haven't seen anyone calling people 'selfish bitches' or 'lazy cows', and nor have I seen a single post that has been 'judgemental' about the OP's life choices.

Slightly off-topic, but in any case, 'sisterhood' doesn't mean supporting anything and everything that every woman does. Everyone (male or female) makes choices, and lives with the consequences. I genuinely don't understand why 'women's liberation' (a rather dated term) was brought into this in the first place, unless it was to cause bad feeling.

DoodleDog It was rhetoric. Just that, Nothing else. Women shouldn't judge other women's life choices, end of.

Gosh, so many replies!

MOnica and others, thank for simply replying to my question, as you pointed out the rest of the conversation was pointless.

I don't mind being criticised for my life choices, it was right for me at the time, and I am no where near facing destitution.

I'd just like to say, I didn't sit at home all these years doing nothing, I was heavily involved with charity work, of which I don't need to broadcast. I held many a hand to people who had been cast aside by their families in all sorts of circumstances. Guess I've been lucky with mine.

Yes I am ill, last year I spent most of it clearing out my house so the boys don't have to rootle through my stuff when the time comes, I wanted to contact HMRC due to some old paperwork I found, that is all.

Once again, I have no intention of robbing the state for a pension.

So I'll leave the thread now, but please try and remember that there are a lot of women out there, lots younger than me facing future financial difficulty.

I never had that difficulty - I had a ball!!!

I have read most of the responses and, as usual, there is good advice here, especially about ringing for a pension forecast: www.gov.uk/check-state-pension. I found the respondents very accessible and helpful when I consulted them... I wonder if you are secure in your home, though, if you are not married. Have a look at this: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/living-together-marriage-and-civil-partnership/living-together-and-marriage-legal-differences/ You may find it useful.

What a lot of judgemental people on here. Women who went out to work used to be heartless bitches because they didn't play the role of full-time wife and mother. Now women who are full-time wives and mothers are lazy cows because they don't have paid jobs.

There is always one acceptable role for women and anyone who doesn't fit that role must be criticised mercilessly. So much for sisterhood.

Doodledog: although paying in to couples' State Pension has ceased in the UK (I think 1978?) there are many couples still claiming it on historical contributions, so your point, whilst accurate for OP doesn't apply to all.
Although most benefits are means tested, not all are, especially some that relate to illness, including terminal illness.
M0nica - I do think it mostly helpful to take OP's question a little further - as those have who pointed out that she may be entitled to a State Pension (it wasn't clear why she was not intending to claim) and how to investigate that.
However, I do agree that those who have turned this into a discussion about choices made by families have overstepped the mark here. It is a reasonable discussion for another thread, but I am afraid that it may have driven OP away. I hope she has sufficient answers to help her - I think she does.

It should not be classed as income. Just tell HMRC you were a stay at home mum.

If you log into Hmrc and put in your national insurance number it will tell you exactly if you have been credited with stamps and what your pension will be . I can go right back to 1981 . Try it

Nightsky2

NellG

I was always under the impression that women's liberation intended that women should be free to choose their path in life and not have it dictated to them. Yet here we are in 2021, with women questioning other women's life choices...

????

Again, this is not about 'women's liberation', and nobody is dictating anything. Some people have pointed out that if a person (male or female) has not paid into a pension they should not expect to claim one. A partner (male or female) pays one contribution which covers him or herself, and does not 'double up' to pay for a dependent other.

That is not criticising, dictating or limiting freedom, and it does not apply only to women, liberated or not. Neither is it questioning the choices of the OP - they were hers to make.

What I am questioning now that I realise she may be ill (which I didn't earlier) is what exactly HMRC are asking about, and why? If she has not paid tax, they are unlikely to need to know anything, particularly as she is, presumably, not paying tax now.

The only way that I can thing of for 'authorities' being interested in the OP's finances are if she is now claiming benefits and also getting regular money from her children or her partner.

Most benefits are means tested, so any money she is receiving would be taken into account, whether earned or not, and if the question is about that we need to have more information before we can try to help.

What's the real problem? Why have HMRC suddenly taken an interest in you?

Doodledog The Op asked a simple question. If you are not married to your partned do you have to pay income tax on the housekeeping money that passed from his hands to hers - the simple answer to that is 'No.

Almost all the posts on this thread in relation to this question and offering helpful advice directly to the OP are irrelevant.

I was a stay at home Mum married to a self employed person who had a mantra that paying into pension funds wasn't needed as wealth was coming. (it didn't) Divorced after 25 years I've
been scrambling the last few years to to get contributions up to date. I now run my own business so you would think I
was savvy enough to put my house in order so to speak, but
pensions were the last thing on my mind. 67 this year and
still working.

Well, as HMRC are asking about your income for the last 30 uears, get back on to them. They are they obvious people to answer your question.

I am fairly certain that housekeeping money given by a partner or spouse is not income and that you are in a pretty pickle as you have neither pay national insurance nor income tax.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, it isn¨t meant as a criticism. If you had been employed as a housekeeper you would have received a salary, had a contract and paid income tax.

Ask them what the rules are regarding dependent spouses or common-law partners.

You could also try Citizens' advice, you might just qualify for social security. It's worth asking.

After a lot of digging apparently there are no rules on giving cash to unmarried partners, the payments are treated a gifts

Regular payments are treated as “normal expenditure out of income” and are not taxed at all. The donor has to claim them as such in their Tax Declaration, in the same way a child or a parent could be supported

I was surprised when you said 'that's how it was in those days' I have worked non stop since 1967. My children were born in the 80's and I managed to find work around their school times. 30 years ago was the 90's, all the women I knew worked. However, this was the choice you made. Everyone I think is entitled to a basic state pension whether you have paid stamps or not. i'm not sure whether being a stay at home mum/housewife constitutes 'work' in the eyes of the HMRC although all of us know it can be a lot harder.

If youvwere claiming Child Benefit in your name you may be able to get credit for those years. If you had been married you would have been able to claim on DH’s NI contributions.