Urgent Advice Needed

JOHNSTONE1

Hi all, i wonder if someone could help me as i'm making myself ill with all this tax credit stress at the moment.

I have been waiting for my annual review pack (i dont recieve tax credits anymore) and came on here to enquire as to why it would be taking so long. Some of the stuff i've read on here over the past few weeks has concerned me and bought some things i hadnt previously realised to light.

I've now absolutly convinced myself that i'm going to be picked for a compliance enquiry and had i not been on here i wouldnt have worried in the slightest as as far as i was concerned my claim was all up to date and correct. However since researching on the internet i have realised that my child care costs should have been less as i got some of my childcare sessions free from the government.... i didnt know you had to inform of this change as it said in my pack only to call if my childcare costs went up or down for 4 consecutive weeks which they didnt! If i hadnt of got worried and dug for info (which isnt readily available i still wouldnt be aware of this now)!!

Secondly i claimed as a single parent and ended my claim in October as my husband was moving back in on the 31st, I presumed this was the correct thing to do, but from reading some of the posts on here regarding when you are counted as a couple i'm thinking i should of ended it in August as thats when he came back in to contact with us as such, spent time with me and my son contributed some money to me (though this was owed in csa he never paid for years) either way in the eyes of tax credits they would probably class us as a couple even though he wasnt living with me.

Now i dont know what to do.... do i wait for my annual review pack and call in and give them the details as i now see them, call up now and tell them or wait till i get one of these letters?? If i call up now will it cause a massive problem or will they just calculate how much i owe them back and let me know? How will i have to pay it back as i dont get tax credits anymore? I'm so scared they will think i've been deliberatly fraudulent as i havent at all, i'm probably their most frequent call, updating changes constantly!!

I've been crying for days and day and think i'm just getting paraniod now and making myself ill wont help, will they prosecute me??

Please help! x

Pepzofio

If you don't receive any tax credits, this is probably why you have not received an annual renewal pack!

I've already covered the childcare costs in a previous post & PM, but with regards your single claim, you only need to end it from the date you moved back in together. Even if he stayed over a few times in Aug/Sept, as a reconciling couple this is to be expected, and does not necessarily mean you are living together as a couple. Money he paid to you prior to actually moving back in would not affect your single claim as child maintenance is not counted as income for TC purposes.

If I were you, I would phone up TCs, put in a joint claim and request 3 mths backdating (max they will give) - unless your joint income is over £50k you should be eligible for at least £10.50/wk CTC (based on one child over 1yr). Explain the childcare situation and say that it was an honest mistake. Make sure you have the relevant invoices and dates to hand so they can help you work out exactly what the correct cost should have been.

IF there has been any overpayment (which there might not have been, necessarily) you can use the TCs that you are currently entitled to but not claiming to pay this back. This way you will not have a drop in income, and once the overpayment is finished you will even have a bit extra! As the overpayment will be against your single claim, they will probably not take it automatically from your joint claim, but you could ask if this was possible, or failing that, receive the money and send it straight back to them!

Try not to stress yourself out over it though.

JOHNSTONE1

Thanks for your reply.

I ended my single claim in october and didnt make a new joint one as i dont want anything to do with them anymore cos its so complicated. I thought i should still get a review pack so i can confirm the info they have for me from April 08 to October 08 is correct and give tehm the figure on my P60. I tried to call and give it to them last month and they said wait for your pack?

The reason i think the fact he paid me money looks odd is because up until August he was in Military prison he was then discharged from the army and it was at this point he started spending more time with us. I told him that if he wanted to make a go of things he had to sort himself out get a job etc.
He got a job and as he had no bank account his wages got paid into my bank account untill his one was set up. Some of that money i was with drawing and giving to him and some he told me to keep as maintenence for our son. As soon as his bank account was set up this stopped. I would have thought they would look at that as suspicious which is why i would rather just back date it to August rather than be accused of being something im not.

My question is do i just call them up and tell them this, is it as simple as that or will it instigate a full scale investigation?

Molly41

Hi,
I know what you mean about this site making you paranoid!! I started coming on here for info re ESA and have worried such a lot about other issues i have read about. The thing to remember that only the tiny minority of people are using this site and the majority of people dont have a problem and live in happy ignorance of potential problems etc. So its important to get some perspective. Thats not helped sometimes by the unhlepful comments that certain people seem to make.
Perhaps you child tax renewal pack is lost in the post? When I rang up to nenew mine it said on a recorded message that most people would receive them by the 21st June? As you are not receiveing them anymore that probably makes you a low priority. You could ring them and ask if it has been issued?
Whatever the reason try not to worry.
Plopsky