WHY MUST THE CHILDRENS TAX CREDIT BE CLAIMED BY THE HIGHER EARNER?
The rules allow couples where neither partner pays higher rate tax to decide how to allocate the credit between them. But we need a rule that allows us to decide who, in a couple, initially claims the credit to help us ensure that couples only get one credit per family, like single claimants. There are two reasons why that rule says the initial claim is made by the partner with the higher income first, where there is a higher rate taxpayer in a couple, the rule ensures that they do not avoid the withdrawal of the credit second, it means that for couples where one of the partners does not have enough income to use the credit, and they decide not to share it, it goes to the partner who can make most use of it.
