Tax Credit Briefing discussion

Icequeen99

Stillookinafterthepennies wrote: »

Hi
Thanks for your reply.
I have been in tears since the call I had earlier.
I apparently do not qualify for wtc as I do not claim dla?
Years ago for personal reasons I decided not to apply for dla, I was 33 at the time and was hoping that my health would improve after surgery and treatment and that I could regain my life one day...
Years later I have to admit to myself that my health and circumstances are not what I ever thought they would be, so a few weeks ago put in a claim for dla it has been rejected twice.
The tax office have told me this afternoon that as I am not claiming any benefits for my health problems that I do not qualify for wtc. I have never been told this and been on it since 2005.
She said there are a list of benefits you could claim.
I rang citizens advice who said as I live with my mum I'm her carer and she has savings that I may not get anything because they take the house hold income into consideration?
My mothers money is nothing to do with me its her dla and pension!
So because I am trying to keep a job I am being refused help when there are young fit people on certain tv shows bragging about using their benefits to buy drugs??!!
I am speechless and in tears. I wasn't even asked about claiming disability benefits I spoke about it completely unaware that it was a requirement for wtc.
Don't know what to do now citizens advice are going to try ringing me tomorrow or Monday.
If anyone can suggest what I can do please do I cannot claim carers allowance or income support.
Thanks

Where to start, you have been given wrong information.

Firstly, most people say it is 'household income' but it is actually income of you and any partner. So your Mother's income is irrelevant for tax credits.

Secondly, you don't need to get a disability benefit to get working tax credit. However, if you do not qualify for the disability element of WTC (and are not responsible for a child) then you will need to work at least 30 hours to qualify.

If you work between 16 and 30 then you will only qualify if you are 60 or over, responsible for a child or qualify for the disability element.

To qualify for the disability benefit you must have previously received or currently receive one of the benefits on the list and you must be at a disadvantage in getting a job.

IQ

Stillookinafterthepennies

Hi IQ,
Thanks for your reply.
I did reply to your message last night but just after I posted it my battery went flat so it couldn't have done it in time.
Thanks for clarifying things I thought that was the case regarding entitlements but was so upset I couldn't think clearly.
I didn't sleep much last night, as I am struggling with pain and fatigue it is very hard to keep my job but I worked hard and studied and am highly qualified so I am fighting to keep going to work. I made a decision 10 years ago to not claim dla as I was younger then and hoped my situation would be relatively shortlived.
Today I rang hmrc tax credits again and this time someone answered who seemed to genuinely want to help he was very efficient and clarified more about my case in 10mins than all the others I've spoken to, put together. He disagreed with the way I'd been told yesterday that I should be on dla and let me explain that I'd been on ESA between jan-june this year after my sick pay ended. He said the first claim had to end after I'd been on longterm sick but has never been closed down. Therefore when I claimed a 2nd time it cannot be awarded as the first claim is active despite no payments.
He explained that although dla is the main benefit that lots of people claim plus wtc its not the only benefit that makes people eligible.
He said he cannot promise that it will be sorted next week but the technical team are looking at it, if it doesn't get awarded he said we will look at where we go from there.
I have to ring the end of next week for an update.
I think it pays to be persistent and not to rely on senior people to inform you as they may not always be as knowledgeable as we assume!
Thanks again for your help
Take care

abfab6

What a nightmare!!!

As I was running a pub, working over 90 hours a week, I was surprised, even shocked , to discover we were entitled to working Tax Credits. Even more surprised, as I thought it was directed as working couples with children. Well thats what the adverts seem to concentrate on.
Anyway we were awarded WTC. As we were taking no money from the business, high rent, over priced supplies from the brewery we were tied to, every little helped.
In the end our business went under as so many pubs have and are.I did not notice until some time later that my WTC had ceased. Nothing from HMRC, so being under pressure at the time assumed that the claim had run out. As I was soon to be losing my pub I thought nothing more of it.
A year later I get a letter from HMRC declaring an overpayment of £490 !! HMRC said I hadnt filled in and returned the necessary forms. Thats because I didnt get the necessary forms!!
Numerous letters have gone back and forth, none that I have sent I might add, have been replied to. Just generic ""you have overlooked......you're circumstances may have changed. So I replied answering their "suggestion list" item by item. My circumstances havent changed, i dont have any children that have left home, I havent seperated from my husband, etc etc etc. I didnt receive your form in June 2012!!!
I paassed all this on to my MP, who has been most helpful, writing to HMRC, and sending me a reply received from them. At this point I might add in the letter there was a mention of an MP's HMRC hotline telephone number!?!? One wonders why they need a hotline number.
Anyway they (HMRC) are maintaining that they have fulfilled their obligations, and although they deny calling me a liar, they are still saying that I didnt fill in the form they sent.
I DIDNT GET THE BLASTED FORM!!
Why would I not fill in a form to claim something I am entitled to? Especially as we were almost broke. sorry I'm starting to rant..........
So a final letter arrives from HMRC via my MP, strangely on the same day, in the same postal delivery, two more letters arrive. Both exactly the same, one to me and one to my Husband, from HMRC. Both Generic and Both saying we had not replied to previous leters, and we had been overpaid by £490, and we "............. may have overlooked their previous letter.but if we didnt reply to this one we would have chosen to ignore it................"
ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing?
So a quick email to my MP results in a letter from him saying he is disappointed in my still having problems with HMRC, and enclosing forms to take my complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Watch this space!!!!! Its not over by a long way yet

mamaswifty

Hi, I had an endowment policy mature July 2013, do I put this on the working tax credit form Part2 Income details ? And also I am self employed but my partner works full time earning less than 25k a year. My business hasn't made a profit for the last 3 years, will the endowment payment effect what tax credit I get ?
Thanks for any help that any of you might be able to give me.

Jellybean2

hi,

never been here before but saw all the ranting and useful help so thought i'd join in,

(its a long story though so do bear with me)

I changed my bank details on the 11th july 2014 with the tax credit office they passed them to child benefit only to pass on the wrong details the woman managed to get the bank wrong and the sort code (no idea how as she repeated them to me twice to confirm), anyhow I got a letter (22rd july) saying id been paid an overpayment of £271 which would be in my bank on the 17th july it wasn't there! and paid as I should on the 22nd july that also never appeared. I called them straight away to tell them the bank details were wrong and that I hadn't received either payment.

6 phone calls later someone finally says ok i'll escalate it and see what happens for you. I didn't hear anything so I called back the next day (23rd) to be told it wasn't escalated but he would do it now whilest I was on the phone. waited a few days then called back to see what was happening........apparently the money had been processed into someone elses account and they had asked them to pay back the £539 issued but I would need to wait for a decision before I would get it.

a week later still nothing.......anyway after 3 weeks I decision was made the error was NOT my fault but tax credits and as a result I will be paid (I was finally smiling)...until she said ok what we've done is paid you £78 yes £78 it will be in your bank tomorrow (8th august 2014) and then you will receive £281 p/w instead of the £271 you were getting. OMG are you serious I've had to borrow money to feed my kids keep the extra payment but pay me what you owe me £271 and i'll be happy to which she replied NO we cant do that at all you will get what your owed but weekly by £10.

I don't want to sound rude or pathetic but I had to borrow a full weeks money which including my child benefit is £345 so I didn't get behind with my bills, child benefit called me to say the error is theres and would send my payment right out and that tax credits should do the same but tax credits have flat refused even reduced me to tears! now I don't mind but im polite and don't use bad language but I felt like pulling them down the phone after I was told its your fault you borrowed money when I had no obvious choice!

now my question is can I get any help to get them to pay me the weeks money they owe me in full.

Jellybean2

hi yes tax credits passed on the wrong details to the child benefit office, but child benefit have rectified at there end and paid me.

yes a team leader said I should not have borrowed any money to which I replied well im sorry but I do need to feed my children.

sonnet

Hi, My partner and I have a child and when I deducted my two pensions payments this put us into the claim range for child tax credits. The TC people rejected this on the fact that one of the pensions, a works one was saving on tax because it was paid before tax. but the second a pension that gets paid from my bank account was ok.
so I lost my claim, but the point that makes no sense is that if I reduced my works pension and paid more into the private (from the bank) I would have been ok.
Although yes I saved on the works pension by claiming the tax and greatly gaining by a employer contribution. This has done little to actually help (now at this present time) a hard working bloke who's wages struggle to cope in today's world. The msg I get from the government is that really I shouldn't be saving for a pension because That money is need to survive now.
My point, If I saved through a private pension (bank payment) and received less support for my pension then I'd be better off. The £1,500 I paid into my works pension has lost me my Tax credits award for child Tax credits.
Please tell me this award has been worked out wrong and I have not stupidly locked away that money which I desperately need to live on.
Regards.

zagfles

sonnet wrote: »

Hi, My partner and I have a child and when I deducted my two pensions payments this put us into the claim range for child tax credits. The TC people rejected this on the fact that one of the pensions, a works one was saving on tax because it was paid before tax. but the second a pension that gets paid from my bank account was ok.
so I lost my claim, but the point that makes no sense is that if I reduced my works pension and paid more into the private (from the bank) I would have been ok.
Although yes I saved on the works pension by claiming the tax and greatly gaining by a employer contribution. This has done little to actually help (now at this present time) a hard working bloke who's wages struggle to cope in today's world. The msg I get from the government is that really I shouldn't be saving for a pension because That money is need to survive now.
My point, If I saved through a private pension (bank payment) and received less support for my pension then I'd be better off. The £1,500 I paid into my works pension has lost me my Tax credits award for child Tax credits.
Please tell me this award has been worked out wrong and I have not stupidly locked away that money which I desperately need to live on.
Regards.

I'm not sure if I've misunderstood, but if the works pension conts are paid before tax is applied, then it's already deducted from your income.

For instance if your salary (plus any overtime, bonus etc) is £20,000, and you pay £1500 into the works pension, your P60 income will be £18,500, and this is the income you declare to tax credits. You can't deduct the £1500 again, it's already deducted.

If instead you'd have put £1500 into a private pension your P60 income would be £20,000 and you've be able to deduct £1500, same end result, £18,500.

sonnet

my gross pay and my taxable pay are the same figure shown on my wage slip. so what does that mean? sorry to be thick.

My p60 says 19164.00
my wage slip says gross pay £19164.00
my wage slip says smart pension £1436.76
my wage slip says Taxable pay £19164.00

zagfles

sonnet wrote: »

my gross pay and my taxable pay are the same figure shown on my wage slip. so what does that mean? sorry to be thick.

My p60 says 19164.00
my wage slip says gross pay £19164.00
my wage slip says smart pension £1436.76
my wage slip says Taxable pay £19164.00

So is the £19164 before or after the pension has been deducted? You should be able to work this out eg by looking at the wage slip the month before and seeing how the gross changes.