working tax credit

tirnanog_2 · 7 July 2004 at 8:27PM

Can anyone offer advise about working tax credit. What is the criteria for qualifying

november · 7 July 2004 at 11:59PM

You (or your partner if you have one) have to be in full time work.

Your income has to be below a certain level.

You have to be a UK resident not subject to immigration control.

Full-time work = 16 hours if you have a child, a disability or are at least 50 years old. 30 hours if you are age 25 or over.

See here for more info Tax Credits Online

lola_rose_4 · 8 July 2004 at 1:42AM

can you advise me on behalf of my cousin. she is 51 years of age, earns £72 per week and is single. do you think she would qualify

filigree_2 · 8 July 2004 at 2:41AM

can you advise me on behalf of my cousin. she is 51 years of age, earns £72 per week and is single. do you think she would qualify

If she's only earning £72 a week, she must be working far less than 30 hours a week, which is required for WTC. Your cousin needs to find a job that offers more hours, and if that isn't possible she might be entitled to other benefits.

november · 8 July 2004 at 11:37AM

As she is at least 50 she could qualify if she works at least 16 hours if she qualifies for the 50-plus element.

To qualify for this you must be:

* Have been in receipt of JSA, IS, IB, SDA or state retirement pension plus the minimum income guarantee for at least 6 months (in a row or consecutive periods adding up to 6 months) ending immediately before you started work

* Or someone else was receiving an increase in their JSA, etc (same as above) in respect of you for at least 6 months before you started work

* Or for at least 6 months immediately before you started work you were entitled to and credited with national insurance contributions or earnings

* Or for a period immediately before you started work either someone else was receiving an increase in their IS, etc (as above) or you were entitled to be redited with NI earnings or credits AND

- For a period immediately before this you or your partner were receiving carer's allowance, bereavement allowance or widowed parent's allowance and these periods add up to 6 months.

This element is payable for only a 12 month period starting when you return to work. A lower rate is payable if you work between 16 and 29 hours.

Sorry its all stated like that which is rather complicated to say the least!

If all that sounds like she possibly could then try the calculator thingy on the link.

System · 2 August 2004 at 3:52AM

i got married last year,so we told the tax office of a difference in our circumstances,we already had a boy of 1 year old.i was asked for my national insurance number and was told that they would caculate my income,they worked out my basic pay and payed us an that,then last week i received a letter telling me i owed them 400 quid because i had done a bit of overtime during the year,for what they give us and the extra tax i payed on my overtime i would not have bothered my !!!!!! applying for this benifit,i am sick of seeing adverts telling you to apply for this and that,why apply when you end up worse off.as for the tax office they can go and whistle for the 400 quid,tony blair you are a joke,at least !!!!!! turpin wore a mask to rob people!!

Fran · 2 August 2004 at 2:02PM

Dermot

I can understand why you feel mad about it, but you are dealing with the Inland Revenue and they will chase you for the money. You could go to CAB or similar to check that the amounts are correct (take income details with you) and they could help negotiate payments.

brett_2 · 11 December 2004 at 1:00AM

Any one know why they make it 25, Im almost 24 work 37.5 hours a week and just moved into a flat off my own for the first time so this would have really helped.

irs101 · 13 December 2004 at 1:20PM

Brett

The 25 year old rule is for WTC for families without children (families with children can be any age). WTC is aimed at tackling in-work poverty. The Government view is that young people on low income is not a sign of poverty, it is just part of the normal working life-cycle (you start on low income and work your way up to higher incomes). Supplementing income at a younger age would also stifle ambition and make people benefit dependent at an early stage of their life (leading to a benefit dependency culture).

Furthermore, if you are young and without children, you have more flexibility to reduce your essential outgoings by sharing houses with others etc.

Of course, the other issue is that giving WTC to anyone under 25 on low income would be very expensive!

My personal view is that the Government is right that their prime obligation is to tackle child poverty, so there needs to be an age limit for those without children. However I think you can argue about whether 25 is the right cut-off, rather than some arbitrary number which contains costs.

irs

Spendless · 13 December 2004 at 1:46PM

irs - we could do with you further down the board on vent - will someone give me a free child

seriously i'd just like to say thanks for the replies you have given, for any queries on here..

edited to say and thanks also to fran,ted and anyone else who has been able to offer advice,guidance best wishes etc

irs101 · 13 December 2004 at 4:26PM

Oh, don't go saying things like that.....I hardly have enough time to look at the boards I do at the moment. Don't want to add any more to my "collection" (although did have a quick look at that thread).

I try and put my own views aside on this board. People who come here are normally asking what they are entitled to, or for advice on dealing with IR - they want facts. I guess I picked that up from Fran and Ted, having hung around for a while before posting.

And while there are some aspects of TCs that I agree with (the large amounts of help available for those on very low incomes and with disabilities) there are many other aspects that I don't......don't get me started on childcare plus you know there is something wrong with the policy when some people are using it to get tax relief of nearly 80% on their pension contributions!! As half of a childless couple, I also have some sympathy for the feeling that I am paying for everyone elses children (although I'm lucky enough to have some knowledge to help me minimise the amount of tax I pay).

But this is irrelevant. I know about TC entitlement in depth, so that's what I help out with. Whether I think it's a good policy or not, I am a big supporter of people getting what they are entitled to (and there are plenty who aren't because TCs are so complicated). Plus it's sort of me giving something back for all the advice I've gleaned from other boards.

But thanks, it's nice to be appreciated (even though I've not been here very long).

irs

working tax credit

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free