The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Hi - hope it's OK to ask this here... my son plans to start at Uni this year. In the past 6 months my husband and I have separated but my income is still tied up with my husband's as we run a small business. This will change later this year as we start to untangle our finances and make the separation complete. My income for the current tax year (2017/18) is less than the last (2016/17), due to a downturn in business, but my ACTUAL earnings when my son starts at Uni is likely to be over 50% LESS than the 2016/17 income used to determine the level of support for the Maintenance element. As a result, I'm not sure if I will be able to give as much support to my son as I'd like.I know that it is possible to request an adjustment based on current tax year earnings. My question is - can I ask for my estimated earnings from, say, June 2018 to be used instead?
Anyone got the answer?

We have a similar situation where our income will drop when our daughter goes to university this year.
Original post by TElio
Hi - hope it's OK to ask this here... my son plans to start at Uni this year. In the past 6 months my husband and I have separated but my income is still tied up with my husband's as we run a small business. This will change later this year as we start to untangle our finances and make the separation complete. My income for the current tax year (2017/18) is less than the last (2016/17), due to a downturn in business, but my ACTUAL earnings when my son starts at Uni is likely to be over 50% LESS than the 2016/17 income used to determine the level of support for the Maintenance element. As a result, I'm not sure if I will be able to give as much support to my son as I'd like.I know that it is possible to request an adjustment based on current tax year earnings. My question is - can I ask for my estimated earnings from, say, June 2018 to be used instead?


Hi there,

If there has been a recent separation then we will just use the house hold income of the parent that your son ordinarily lives with, if this is your self then when your son starts university in the 18/19 Academic year we will be looking to use the 16/17 tax year. If there has been a 15 % drop in income from the tax year in question then we can use 'current year income' meaning this will be based on the tax year we are currently in when your son applies. So for example you would be using the 18/19 Tax year as the current year and this would actually be based on estimations until the tax year end ( April 2019 ). Once the tax year has ended we would send you a form to complete asking for the actual earnings and evidence of these earnings in the way of a P60 or a self assessed tax return.

You also mention that you are currently in the midst of separating the earnings from the shared business but I assume that you both would of submitted a self assessed tax return each year? If this is the case then we would just be looking to see the figures from your tax return.
Original post by melliottme
Anyone got the answer?

We have a similar situation where our income will drop when our daughter goes to university this year.



Hi there

We would be able to base the application on the current tax year information if there has been a drop in income of 15% or more since the tax year we would normally ask for (So for 18/19 applications we would ask for financial information from the 16/17 tax year). In order for us to assess this you would need to complete a PFF2 (you can also do this online) with figures from 16/17 tax year and also provide us with a current year income assessment form (CYI) with estimates of what you think your earnings will be for the 18/19 tax year. If there is a drop of 15% or more then we will use the figures provided in the CYI and your daughters maintenance loan should increase. At the end of the tax year we will send you an additional form and ask you to confirm the actual earnings and provide evidence for this such as P60 or tax return.

Hope this helps
Reply 5
Thank you Connor - that is a weight off my mind!

I had interpreted the term ... " 'current year income' meaning this will
be based on the tax year we are currently in when your son applies" ...as meaning 17/18 tax year as he would apply prior to April 2018.

In answer to your question - yes I submit a self-assesed tax return.



Original post by Connor Wagstaff
Hi there,

If there has been a recent separation then we will just use the house hold income of the parent that your son ordinarily lives with, if this is your self then when your son starts university in the 18/19 Academic year we will be looking to use the 16/17 tax year. If there has been a 15 % drop in income from the tax year in question then we can use 'current year income' meaning this will be based on the tax year we are currently in when your son applies. So for example you would be using the 18/19 Tax year as the current year and this would actually be based on estimations until the tax year end ( April 2019 ). Once the tax year has ended we would send you a form to complete asking for the actual earnings and evidence of these earnings in the way of a P60 or a self assessed tax return.

You also mention that you are currently in the midst of separating the earnings from the shared business but I assume that you both would of submitted a self assessed tax return each year? If this is the case then we would just be looking to see the figures from your tax return.
Original post by TElio
Thank you Connor - that is a weight off my mind!

I had interpreted the term ... " 'current year income' meaning this will
be based on the tax year we are currently in when your son applies" ...as meaning 17/18 tax year as he would apply prior to April 2018.

In answer to your question - yes I submit a self-assesed tax return.


Hi again TElio,

I understand your interpretation there, we would mean the current year once the actual academic year starts on 1st September 2018.

So as for the self assessed tax return this is good as there would be no need to confuse the combined income when providing your financial details.

So once your son has applied and you have provided the figures for 16/17 tax year, you will be able to find the 'CYI/Current year income form on the Gov.uk webiste under student finance forms - Following the walk through of questions until finding the form.

Thanks again.
Thanks Connor. This webchat is now closed.