Tax Credit Briefing discussion

swansmummy1384

phone 01355359007 you get through straight away, its for people living abroad, got the number on here and just renewed in 5 mins

andjones2007

:mad::mad:my partner and i have just had our first child 2 weeks ago and are applying for tax credits. our problem is that they ask for income, but for 9 months of this year my partner will be £130 per week down on her wages due to being on maternity leave. will this affect this years or next years claim. as her income will be approx £5000 less per year.:mad:

Icequeen99

andjones2007 wrote: »

:mad::mad:my partner and i have just had our first child 2 weeks ago and are applying for tax credits. our problem is that they ask for income, but for 9 months of this year my partner will be £130 per week down on her wages due to being on maternity leave. will this affect this years or next years claim. as her income will be approx £5000 less per year.:mad:

When you claim, you will have to put down your 11/12 joint income. Your first award will be calculated on that amount. Once you get it, you can ring up and estimate your 12/13 income.

You can deduct £100 for each week your partner is on ordinary maternity leave and the first 13 weeks of additional maternity leave (so basically 39 weeks maximum) from her income.

However, there is a £2,500 disregard for falls in income, so the first 2,500 of the fall wont be taken into account.

Also, you need to be accurate with your estimate. if it turns out to be too low, you will likely have an overpayment.

IQ

doughnut2211

I have tried to find out information on how old you have to be if claiming tax credits aged over 60? I have deferred my state pension from the age of 60 as I was born before 1950. My husband is disabled and gets ESA Contribution at present. We currently get working tax credits as for 2012/13. I am considering cutting my hours down currently from 30 to 16 as I am struggling, but that will be for tax year 2013/14. I officially retire from work when I am 65 on 22nd January, 2015. Can I continue to work till April 6th 2015 to claim working tax credits for that year 2014/15? Or do es my claim finish on January 22nd 2015 when I am 65? Is there an age cut off for claiming working tax credits? Can they stop me from cutting down my hours from at present 30 to 16 due to age and health. To get a small company I need to work till I am 65. I cannot get any advice from anyone regarding this. Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you.

SHIVSY

My other half is currently on a Government Training Scheme and getting £10 per week for this! we are living off my wage and only getting £13 tax credits only to be told we have been over paid!!! We have appealed and its been 8 working days and no contact from them!!
But if you go onto the DirectGov website and do the benefits check calculator guess what we should be getting over £80 a week so I ask you what the hell is going on with our tax credits system?????
why are the working ENGLISH people being penalised
can anyone help?

thanks

masonsmum05

Hi,

Any help or guidance or just to hear from anyone in a similar position would be helpful. In a nutshell,i have just returned to work following maternity leave on 29 hours, my partner works full time and we have one 9 month old son now attending nursery. I updated tax office of new hours,obviously having gone from full time my monthly wage will be less. We now pay £492 p/m nursery fees but have just recieved an award notice advising us that because of our joint income (35k) we are not entitled to any financial support toward our sons nursery fee's. I would understand this if it was clear that we earned well over the maximum amount entitled to help but every where i read,people earning 40K and more can still get something so why not us?we have no other means of income so why,if it's due to our joint income is there even guidance to suggest those earning more can still be entitled? And if they do,i'd be interested to understand what circumstances are taken into account. Don't get me wrong,i wasn't planning our finances around getting much help but it's so fustrating as if I chose not to work,whilst i wouldn't be any better off,i still wouldn't be worse off as i wouldn't have nursery fee's to pay for. So angry,i want to work but where is the incentive? Am i doing something wrong or are others in same position in this earning bracket. Any responses or help would be greatly appreciated.

princessdon

Because you have only 1 child, the more children the limits change.

You earn too much to get benefits on £35K.

That doesn't mean I don't understand how it goes easily when supporting a baby and paying childcare (have done it with all of mine) and never got a penny either.

Just stating why they decide this. On £35K with 3 children and same childcare youd get help!

Work out if it is worth returning to work - you may get some TC for staying at home that may make working not viable.

amron5891

In 2005 I signed my form and sent it back, I started to receive my monthly payments, I received a letter a few months later saying that because they had not received my signed form they were stopping my payment and I had to repay what I had received. I replied to them saying that I had returned my paperwork, I received no reply. Two years later(2007) I received another letter regarding the alleged over payment, I replied within their deadline, I received no reply. March of this year I received another letter regarding the alleged over payment, I replied straight away, the end of October I received another letter requesting my earnings for 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, I have until 27.11.12 to reply, I cannot believe that this department is allowed to get away with this appalling service.
Is there anyone else out there who has had to deal with such incompetence?

krafty41

This department has no idea at all what it is doing. I have been single since my partner left. I applied for tax credits and was granted them. Then on renewal they said I was not entitled because they did not believe me to be of single status! I sent a file full of papers and statements showing my change of bank, single occupancy (with my children) with local council, statements from family etc. My ex partner provided copies of all emails letters etc to employers, local council, landlord showing his new address and the date. The tax office sent it all back saying their decision stood, stopped my tax credits and demanded repayment of £7000+ tax credits paid. I sent in a complaint and an appeal. They are not legally entitled to demand repayment if there is an appeal pending. After numerous phone calls they now say they do not have my appeal even though I have a post office confirmation that they signed for the package. It cost me £8.50 to send the original appeal. I have now resent the appeal by next day signed for delivery (another £8.50) and have been told on the phone it could take apx 12 weeks to deal with, therefore another 3 months with no tax credits. I have made a formal request for all data information they hold on me. One person I spoke to admitted that even if they had signed for the original package they had no idea where it was and so it was best to reappeal. There are 1000s of people in this country who are effectively being accused of being dishonest by the tax credits office because they obviously have inadequate manpower to deal with the case load, do not check into each case properly or thoroughly. ignore and/or lose documents, have "no record" of phone calls etc. The stress of losing my partner, facing my home being sold, caring for my children, having to extend my working hours, relying on family to help with the children as I cannot afford care is enough for anyone to handle - but the worry and stress of trying to deal with this inept and bungling government-run tax credits office is unbelievable. What is even more unbelievable is that this has been going on for years and continues to get worse and no one is taking any notice or doing anything about it. I know they need to guard against fraud but we are not all dishonest. I have no faith that my appeal will be successful. I will go to tribunal to deal with my appeal but am preparing myself for the worst.

sebandie

Hello all.
My daughter & her young son live with us & her tax credits were stopped about a year ago after she had a letter saying that she is living with someone.That someone was her brother who was on the electoral roll at our address.It took four weeks and hundreds of phone calls to the tax credit fraud dept who never seemed to answer the phone.I finally got through and it was all sorted or so we thought.
She had a letter again eight weeks ago saying exactly the same thing that she was living with a partner who was her brother who is now not on the electoral roll at our address.We have rang the two numbers given probably over 600 times in the last eight weeks but no one answers the phone and no one has phoned her.We have rang the tax credit line who say they cannot do anything but put a note on file for someone from fraud dept to ring her.We have also been to CAB who wrote and sent a letter to the dept three weeks ago.
Can anyone suggest what we can do now
Thanks
Andrew