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housing benefit, WTC and fluctuating income
dag_2
Posts: 793 Forumite
Can anyone give me advice? I seem to have letters telling me I have overpayments on housing benefit and working tax credit.
In the 2003-2004 tax year, I was self employed until around November, then I went on the sick and got lower rate incapactiy benefit. I got working tax credit for a while, and my first few award notices made sence. But then they seemed to keep on changing their mind about what WTC I was entitled to, for no readily apparent reason. Award notices started becoming like junk mail, and sometimes I would receive up to four different contradictory WTC award notices on the same day. I must have received twenty or more award notices for the whole year - I haven't counted them. Besides, my postman has learning difficulties, and sometimes gets the addresses muddled up - so there doesn't seem to be a lot of point. I doubt I've received all of my award notices.
In the early days, I conscientiously reported all of the WTC award notices to the housing benefit department - but lately, I stopped bothering. I can't always see how the WTC award notice is supposed to relate to what they're actually paying me. Sometimes, the award notice would seem to imply I've had an overpayment - but they would still carry on making payments into my bank account anyway. So I decided, there's no point in reporting them unless my income seemed to change - otherwise, it will complicate my housing benefit claim.
Maybe they've deducted overpayments for the 2003-2004 year from my 2004-2005 year awards - I have no idea, and I'm now getting the two years muddled up.
I'm no longer getting tax credit. They have said I have an overpayment, but they haven't demanded I pay it back yet. However, the housing benefit I've received has been reduced as a result of the working tax credit I've received - and the reduction in housing benefit continued for a few months after the working tax credit payments stopped.
Apparently, short-term lower-rate incapacity benefit is non-taxable, and is not counted for WTC purposes either - however, you qualify for WTC during the first 28 weeks of incapacity benefit after self-employment.
I got IB until May 2004, then I started getting contribution-based jobseeker's allowance. I've done casual work with fluctuating earnings since then, and I have stopped and restarted my JSA three times. Good news is - I'm about to start working for the NHS - it's a permanent job this time.
Assuming that I stay in this job forever, I think I will probably be entitled to working tax credit until the end of this tax year in April 2005, but I won't be entitled to tax credit from then onwards - the salary is too high. However, I will be entitled to housing benefit.
But I don't know if I should claim - because it will both reduce and complicate my housing benefit.
I've just received notice of a housing benefit overpayment, based on reassessments going back to April 2004....
... bah. Even explaining the problem is too complicated, never mind getting it sorted. Sorry for the incomplete info, but I'll try to come back to it later to fill in the gaps. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
In the 2003-2004 tax year, I was self employed until around November, then I went on the sick and got lower rate incapactiy benefit. I got working tax credit for a while, and my first few award notices made sence. But then they seemed to keep on changing their mind about what WTC I was entitled to, for no readily apparent reason. Award notices started becoming like junk mail, and sometimes I would receive up to four different contradictory WTC award notices on the same day. I must have received twenty or more award notices for the whole year - I haven't counted them. Besides, my postman has learning difficulties, and sometimes gets the addresses muddled up - so there doesn't seem to be a lot of point. I doubt I've received all of my award notices.
In the early days, I conscientiously reported all of the WTC award notices to the housing benefit department - but lately, I stopped bothering. I can't always see how the WTC award notice is supposed to relate to what they're actually paying me. Sometimes, the award notice would seem to imply I've had an overpayment - but they would still carry on making payments into my bank account anyway. So I decided, there's no point in reporting them unless my income seemed to change - otherwise, it will complicate my housing benefit claim.
Maybe they've deducted overpayments for the 2003-2004 year from my 2004-2005 year awards - I have no idea, and I'm now getting the two years muddled up.
I'm no longer getting tax credit. They have said I have an overpayment, but they haven't demanded I pay it back yet. However, the housing benefit I've received has been reduced as a result of the working tax credit I've received - and the reduction in housing benefit continued for a few months after the working tax credit payments stopped.
Apparently, short-term lower-rate incapacity benefit is non-taxable, and is not counted for WTC purposes either - however, you qualify for WTC during the first 28 weeks of incapacity benefit after self-employment.
I got IB until May 2004, then I started getting contribution-based jobseeker's allowance. I've done casual work with fluctuating earnings since then, and I have stopped and restarted my JSA three times. Good news is - I'm about to start working for the NHS - it's a permanent job this time.
Assuming that I stay in this job forever, I think I will probably be entitled to working tax credit until the end of this tax year in April 2005, but I won't be entitled to tax credit from then onwards - the salary is too high. However, I will be entitled to housing benefit.
But I don't know if I should claim - because it will both reduce and complicate my housing benefit.
I've just received notice of a housing benefit overpayment, based on reassessments going back to April 2004....
... bah. Even explaining the problem is too complicated, never mind getting it sorted. Sorry for the incomplete info, but I'll try to come back to it later to fill in the gaps. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
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Comments
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Hi dag,
Sorry to hear about your complicated claims! I think to be sure you'd be best taking all your paperwork to CAB or similar and letting them do calculations for you. If you try to do it by phone or letter it will take them ages to sort out. I've had different award notices for WTC myself and I know how you feel about them, I'm always tempted to take them with a pinch of salt but know I can't. (Especially the recent ones saying I owe money.)
Someone else can always look at it with a clearer head than you can yourself, so find a good local adviser to sort it out. Pleased to hear you have a job - make sure you do claim what you are entitled to though.Torgwen.......... ...........0 -
Thanks - my own mind is slightly clearer now, so I think I can explain it better. Here goes:Sorry to hear about your complicated claims!
Scenario: You claim working tax credit. You report your award to the LA, who reduces your housing benefit. A year later, your WTC is reassessed on your actual income for the year, resulting in an overpayment.
Problem: If you cannot get your housing benefit reassessed, then you end up worse off than you would have been if you never claimed working tax credit in the first place.
I think this may have happened to me. But I'm not sure - because I've received so many contradictory tax credit award notices, I can't make sense of it all.
Just today - after starting this thread - I received another award notice, telling me I have a tax credit overpayment, in relation to part of the 2003-2004 year. I phoned up to query it, and they told me it was a mistake, and they will be sending another award notice out shortly.
I think you're supposed to be able to get housing benefit retrospectively reassessed - but that's easier said than done. I've never yet heard of anyone actually doing it.
How do you prove to the LA that your tax credits have started or stopped? By showing them the award notice. But what's the point if half of the award notices have got mistakes on them, and you don't know whether they're right or not?
So it's once bitten twice shy. I'm starting a new job soon, and am wondering whether to claim tax credits or not. The extra money would be nice if I'm entitled to it - but I can't afford to lose out on my housing benefit. Can anyone advise?
But it might not be a problem - it depends how overpayments are recovered. If tax credit overpayments are deducted from the following year's tax credit award, or if the tax code is adjusted, then this should mean your current housing benefit is increased, and there's no need for retrospective reassessment. Maybe it's only a problem if the inland revenue demands you repay within 30 days.
Like I've said - they've written to me several times to say there have been overpayments - but they've never demanded repayment from me yet. So I'm not sure what to do. I'm guessing a lot.
Um - have I explained it better now?
Take your point - in fact I went to the CAB about half a year ago, and that's what they suggested. But I don't want to rely on someone else doing the calculation - I want to be able to understand how to do it myself. To my way of thinking, you shouldn't need an award notice to be able to work out how much WTC you're entitled to. Besides, I've had so many award notices, it would take me several days to find them all.I think to be sure you'd be best taking all your paperwork to CAB or similar and letting them do calculations for you.
Better still, I'd like the inland revenue to give me a single statement for the whole year, rather than hundreds of different award notices for different periods of the year. I'm amazed that they can't do this. Whenever I phone up, they're always incredibly unhelpful, they basically just tell me not to worry about it, and wait until they've sorted it themselves. It wouldn't be a problem if it didn't affect your housing benefit.
Surely I'm not the only one that this has happened to? And surely the powers that be must have seen it coming?0 -
Hi dag,
I have to go out so a short reply, I agree about the multiple notices I've had the same and different things wrong each time, also it's ridiculous to send out the booklet explaining what to do each time, much cost thousands in paper alone.
Why not go to CAB and ask an adviser for one of their calculation sheets - I don't see why they couldn't give you one. Perhaps it would be helpful if they looked into your HB situation though and they could tell you where you stand.Torgwen.......... ...........0 -
I think you're right. I think the problem I had with the CAB before was that I didn't explain it properly. I'm really only bothered about the what-ifs of the way WTC overpayments and their recovery affect housing benefit. I don't really care whether or not my tax credits are correct - I'm much more bothered about whether or not my housing benefit is correct.Why not go to CAB and ask an adviser for one of their calculation sheets - I don't see why they couldn't give you one.
Fortunately the available credit on my cards is big enough for me to pay my rent up to two years in advance - so I really don't have to worry about eviction right now. But I guess that other tenants on tax credit aren't so lucky.
Thanks I'll post if I find out anything. 0
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