1427 Child Benefit

[QUOTE=herealready]Does anyone know if there is such a thing as child benefit in Italy?
I am getting lots of conflicting info on this, so would like to know if anyone has any facts![/QUOTE]

what a child benefit is ?

Its a payment from the government, made to the mother or guardian, for each child towards upkeep. Adverage of £40 per child per month until the child reaches 16 or until finishing full time education.

[QUOTE=notaio]what a child benefit is ?[/QUOTE]

Dear Notaio,

I am trying to send you a private message but your mailbox is full.

Thanks

Any further info on this? I'd be interested to know as well

[QUOTE=Jan]Any further info on this? I'd be interested to know as well[/QUOTE]

I'd like to know too. We've come to Italy for a year - arriving in August. I've just had a conversation with Newcastle who have now stopped paying our child benefit (£110.00 per month which is a sizeable amount to lose). They were very clear and said that as we are now residing in italy (even though I pay tax in the UK) that I should be paying my NI in Italy and therefore claiming any relevant benefits in Italy. I'm self employed and work via the internet for clients in the UK and apparently will be classified as "working at a distance". This is fairly annoying as we are not intending to stay here, and from the sounds of it I'm going to have to pay NI voluntarily in the UK to keep up pension contributions and now go through the hassle of registering here (where?) for national insurance.

So if we lose our child benefit in the UK, are we eligible for Italian child benefit? Does it exist?

I have a sketchy understanding of it but since noone else has replied I'll give it a go. As far as I understand there is not actually child benefit but there is something similar called an "assegno familiare". It seems to be added onto a salary. Eg the boy that works for my partner receives an additional 100 euro per month on his payslip which I believe is paid by the state - he has a 7 month baby and is not married to his partner. I think it differs from specific child benefit in that it could also be paid out if you have any other family members dependent on you. Also not entirely sure if you could receive this if you are not actually receiving an Italian salary and paying Italian taxes.

That's about all I know about it but somebody else might be able to expand further.

[QUOTE=Nicola]

That's about all I know about it but somebody else might be able to expand further.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Nicola. An Italian friend tonight told me something similar to what you've said (that child support is tied to wage packets and taxes). I am cross about this .Despite what the man at Newcastle (Inland Revenue) told me today, the rules are vague. The HM customs website says that national insurance is paid in the country in which a person "habitually resides". What "habitually resides" means is open to different interpretations and, from what I can see, not at all set in stone. Of course the interpretation that the NI office in the UK will use will be the one that suits them. My guess is that I won't have a hope in hell of getting the UK to continue to pay, or any money from Italy as I won't meet the criteria for Italian child benefit - but that I will be likely to pay national insurance in both countries. It's not losing the money that particularly bothers me but the fact that I'm going to have to get into a lengthy bureaucratic exchange to address this and probably come out of it a lot worse off.

Perhaps I was being a little bleak in my last post. If anyone coming to Italy for a year or two (or less) and is self employed or runs a UK based business then they should apply for form E101 or other relevant forms. Applications are downloadable from:

[url]http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/[/url]

If you fit the criteria set by the Inland Revenue then you may be able to keep your UK NI status and therefore retain the right to child and other UK benefits. I am hoping that I do.