Confused by the TC System

Bladegirl01

Hi All - I'm pretty new to this site and I have found some valuable advise recently on it. I am really confuzzled by the TC system. Essentially my DH is now self-employed. He started his business in Jan 07. Prior to this he was employed. Immediately upon him changing employment status I informed TC of the change and had to estimate his earnings in renewal pack that year. We both thought he would have earnt the same therefore estimated no change however this is (regrettably) not the case and he infact earnt £7k less. At renewal this year I had his P60 figures showing the difference and then gave them this accurate figures, thinking and hoping that this would make a difference to our TC each month

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it did by £11 A YEAR!!!!! I personally think that £7k a year is a lot of money and it makes no sense to me that someone earning that much more than us gets the same TC as we do as they will be hundreds of pounds a month better off. We get £43 per month and have two kids under 4.I am informed by TC office that this is because the earning brackets are so high and therefore anyone earning over £22k (combined) will get similar amounts (give or take in relation to number of kiddies).Am I being stupid, is the system completely illogical????Thanks xxx

[Deleted User]

Once your income reaches a certain amount (it varies for each household) your award is reduced to approx £10 p/w. Once your award has reduced to the £10 p/w mark it stays at the same amount until your income is around £50,000.

It looks as though your income was between the two income levels and this is why your award is only around £10 p/w.

Even though your income has reduced drastically, your income is still high enough to only qualify for the basic £10 p/w (and that extra £11 per year).