When would you need to argue to HMRC you don’t provide ’emotional support and companionship’ to your partner?

For tax residency, we sometimes have to consider whether two people are “living together as a married couple”. Whether they meet this definition can change a person from tax resident to non-resident, with potentially millions of pounds of tax at stake.

There is no statutory definition of the above. HMRC says they consider this “a stable partnership, not just based on economic dependency but also on emotional support and companionship”.*

HMRC go onto to say they look at signposts such as**:

– Living in the same house
– The stability of the relationship (does the relationship has a volatile history?)
– Financial support (how is the household income shared or used?)
– Public acknowledgement (do family and friends regard them as a couple?)
– Sexual relations (HMRC state “where there has never been a sexual relationship between the parties, strong alternative grounds are needed to reach the conclusion that the relationship is akin to husband and wife”)

So next time you hear your neighbours arguing, remember they might be doing it for tax purposes.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm09330

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm09340