wtc compliance check

wannabaviking

Hi just wondering if anyone had gone through the compliance check for working tax credits? just wondering if they can make you pay for bank statements? we shred ours eventually !! but they want jan08 to march08 bank statements,i dont fancy having to pay for 9 copies for me and my wife`s accounts, plus they are asking for a copy of our contracts of employment why ? !! cheers for any help

getting-sorted-sarah

Sign up for online banking - you can just print them out.

System

wannabaviking wrote: »

Hi just wondering if anyone had gone through the compliance check for working tax credits? just wondering if they can make you pay for bank statements? we shred ours eventually !! but they want jan08 to march08 bank statements,i dont fancy having to pay for 9 copies for me and my wife`s accounts, plus they are asking for a copy of our contracts of employment why ? !! cheers for any help

You need the statements for them to complete their investigation. If you don't supply them they will assume (rightly or wrongly) that you have something to hide and they will adjust your claim accordingly.

The contracts of employment confirm the number of hours you work and your rate of pay. They compare that with the income you declare and the hours per week you say you work.


For example if you say you work 37 hours per week then at minimum wage for 52 weeks a year you should earn -

37 x 52 x £5.73 = £11024.52 If you say you earn less than that and have no periods of unemployment then there is a descrepancy which needs to be explained.

Savvy_Sue

Oh joy, oh happiness, we got the compliance letter today.

A few questions:

a) any 'contract' which DH and I have is YEARS out of date, so is what they really want a statement from our employer that we are employed for X hours pw on a salary of £Y per year / month? Does it need to cover any payrises during the last tax year to cover any discrepancy between what's on our P60s and what we're currently being paid?

b) it's asking for our self-assessment tax return. We haven't done one, we haven't been asked to do one, we don't need to do one because all our income is from PAYE or has tax deducted at source. Is that going to matter?

c) Not sure I'll be able to find the letter from Child Benefit confirming what they pay. But surely to goodness they can check that themselves?

d) will they accept copies of P60 and payslips? They'll be easier to find ...

e) they want 'passbooks'. I DID have a joint BS a/c with DS3, which was his money, but the BS insisted it went into his sole name earlier this year. If that was after January, do I have to send that too? That will be a pain in the proverbial because it will need 'making up', and may not look like it's my money, can't remember what they did to the book when they took me off.

The good news is that I'm sure they haven't overpaid ... our circumstances haven't changed apart from one son going off to Uni (which they know about); I haven't had any childcare payments for a very long time; our income is within the limits; we've only been getting the minimum award.

but I could still do without the stress! Just persuading DH to gather his payslips will be hard work ...

hotblu

Hello Savvy_Sue,

My brother claims WTC (he is self employed) and he is going through a quite spell. Any how, he had a compliance check. What I found useful when replying to the letter was to attach a covering letter and going through everything they have asked for. For example, if they are asking you for tax return details, just bullet point an explain that both you and your partner are employed and therefore no tax returns.
With regards to the bank statements, if you go into your bank wont they print out for free?
Also, I know it can be a pain collecting the details together, but ultimately Tax Credits is funded by tax payers money (like yourselves), and from time to time they have to check claims, it is a small price to pay to receive the benefit.

HTH

Hotblu

Savvy_Sue

Yes, I was thinking a covering letter would be needed.

Bank statements aren't much of a problem, except I can't remember the login details for my ISA so need to find some paperwork. Then there's my son's passbook I need to look at, it's possible they'll give me a statement if I ask nicely. But knowing the Data Protection Act he'll have to ask nicely.

I'll just get together what I can and see what they think. Must email the school and see if they will give me a letter confirming DS2 was there last year.