I owe tax credits 30K !

starnight_2

If I didn't get WTC (I'm a 27yr old single mother of 1 school age child and work part-time), I wouldn't be able to afford to work as half my pay would be going on child care costs. The thing with tax credits is, although yes I get help, I now get no HB because my WTC take me over the limit, if that makes sense. So I'm actually losing it on one hand as I'm now £200 out of pocket on rent money, when I wouldn't be if I didn't work.

I work because I want to and it was how I was brought up. I didn't ever want to be a single parent, especially at a young age, but I was also taught to take reponsibily for my actions. Which is what I have done, would you rather I lose half the money from WTC because you think it's too much? Even if I only got what you though was 'fair' I wouldn't be able to live. At the minute I only end up with about £50 to spare at the end of the month, and that's if I'm lucky. My son and I have never been on holiday, and my househould goods has taken me 7 yrs for all of it to be paid and bought for me. All this on what you claim is too much money.

And before you start saying maybe I should tr working full time, I did and was in the same position I am in now. Though I never got to see my son as I wasn't home til 7pm, so he was in childcare all day. Also it was detrimental to my mental health.

kazzah

haddit wrote: »

Thanks Alwayson the go for your constructive comments.
Yes i appreciate I am lucky not to be prosecuted. I have made a dreadful judgment in neglecting my affairs and failing to keep them informed. However I have not set out to defraud anyone. I suppose I was just focussed on getting by, what with the business failing. My partner moving in was a little complicated as he was a house husband for 2 years and not contributing whilst I focussed on getting the business off the ground.I legitemately changed to another child care provider and the costs were the same as the previous one on Tax Credits records. I genuinely thought what difference can a name of a provider make, so never mentioned it.

If I serve as a warning to others , so be it - what I did was wrong. So as for the unhelpful posts, you really don't touch the sides with regards to your narrow minded judgements - the reality of my situation is the biggest punishment. And I shall stand up and be counted - be assured of that.

how have you managed to accrue a 30K overpayment if the ONLY change in your circumstances was a change of child care provider?
this does not ring true to me - and why did you need another child care provider if your partner was a house husband? - surely he cared for the children - or is that what you did?
claimed Childcare as if you were paying it out and let your partner care for the children free of charge?
if that is what you did, then you deserve to pay it back and I would like to see you serve a prison sentance - there are families out there struggling to repay overpayments that were NOT of their own making - you were FULLY aware of what you were doing and you should pay back everything

pelirocco

bunny999 wrote: »

yes disgusting isn't it

Why is it disgusting? , by your logic there should be no benefits ,........and of course you have never had to claim any ?

Why attack the poster as regards to the benefit system .

Op , it might be a good idea to get them to detail what the overpayments are and how they calculated them and the relevent dates . Ive not had any dealings with benefits but have had dealings with HMRC and I know they tend to just give you a figure without any details , so its worth checking

cazzzie987

starnight wrote: »

If I didn't get WTC (I'm a 27yr old single mother of 1 school age child and work part-time), I wouldn't be able to afford to work as half my pay would be going on child care costs. The thing with tax credits is, although yes I get help, I now get no HB because my WTC take me over the limit, if that makes sense. So I'm actually losing it on one hand as I'm now £200 out of pocket on rent money, when I wouldn't be if I didn't work.

I work because I want to and it was how I was brought up. I didn't ever want to be a single parent, especially at a young age, but I was also taught to take reponsibily for my actions. Which is what I have done, would you rather I lose half the money from WTC because you think it's too much? Even if I only got what you though was 'fair' I wouldn't be able to live. At the minute I only end up with about £50 to spare at the end of the month, and that's if I'm lucky. My son and I have never been on holiday, and my househould goods has taken me 7 yrs for all of it to be paid and bought for me. All this on what you claim is too much money.

And before you start saying maybe I should tr working full time, I did and was in the same position I am in now. Though I never got to see my son as I wasn't home til 7pm, so he was in childcare all day. Also it was detrimental to my mental health.

Welcome to the real world, I didn't get to see my parents on work days only briefly during the week and at weekends, but I knew they were working for the family and you didnt get any tax credits like you do now and people had no choice but to cope and they did.

Yes the tax credit system does pay too much money out and I am sure plenty will agree, but the point is that its abused. Your thinking I won't work full time because I don't need too and thats because of the tax credits.

cazzzie987

alwaysonthego wrote: »

With respect, this conversation should be taken to the discussion board as it will put newbies from posting any genuine queries that they may have. The beenfits board is not here to discuss benefit policy but to help people with their benefit problems/entitlements.

With respect this is a forum, people are allowed to talk about the posters case.

cazzzie987

pelirocco wrote: »

Why is it disgusting? , by your logic there should be no benefits ,........and of course you have never had to claim any ?

Why attack the poster as regards to the benefit system .

Op , it might be a good idea to get them to detail what the overpayments are and how they calculated them and the relevent dates . Ive not had any dealings with benefits but have had dealings with HMRC and I know they tend to just give you a figure without any details , so its worth checking

It is disgusting to get that much benefit. I think we would all agree benefits are a good thing but they are abused big style, by greedy and lazy people this is the problem.

I am cross at people like OP who commit fraud and get away with it.

alwaysonthego_2

cazzzie987 wrote: »

With respect this is a forum, people are allowed to talk about the posters case.

You are not talking about the poster's case, you are talking generally about the disgust of people claiming tax credits.

I suggest you read this boards rules as it is Martin who has stated he does not want benefit policy being discussed. This is his forum so I guess he can make the rules about what can be discussed on here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=365935

pitkin2020

at the end of the day tax credits encourage people to go back to work rather than be on full time benefits, it tops up a low wage to help, as i said in another thread sometime you are financially better off on benefits in some circumstances, tax credits save money as its only a small top up compared to paying income support, HB and CTB

It may be ok for for some of you that are earning good money 20k plus per year but not everyone can get into those jobs others have to take minimum wage/part time so why shouldn't they get help, the government also get money back from the employer in taxes and from the employees in NI and other taxes.
The problem lies with the person claiming the tax by way under estimating what they are going to earn and then are overpaid tax credits, always always over estimate and you'll never need to pay anything back..........

irish_eyes_r_smiling

if so many people have a problem with benefit policy they should bring it to the attention of their local MP, you now the one who also fleeced them

seriously though, OP has made a serious error and i can understand people's fustration as to the amount involved and think that its unfair that you can claim this type of amount.

Not everyone who claims CTC i out to commit fraud though, i have two children and before i had to become a carer my wage was enough to support my family with a top up around £15 a week from HMRC. Obviously since then we get significantly more which is obviously a godsend and i'm grateful for it.

Pepzofio

alwaysonthego wrote: »

If you check for yourself the single person (figures are £16000 income level I was a bit out)any thing over £16000 does not qualify for WTC whilst a couple still recieves a small amount at an income level of £18000. The childless single person/couples threshold is even lower.

Check where? And are you comparing like-for-like working hours?

Your figures suggest a single parent working part time & a couple working full time. Taking like-for-like claims, the level at which entitlement ends is the same for single/joint claimants with children.

I have done manual calculations as follows (assuming no disabilities in the family or entitlement to 50+ element):

Single person no children - WTC entitlement ends at approx £13,186pa

WTC max award = £2,665pa
Basic £1890pa
30hrs £775pa

£13,186 - £6,420 = £6,766
39% = £2638.74 to be deducted from award = £26.26pa*

Couple no children - WTC entitlement ends at approx £17,955pa

WTC max award = £4,525pa
Basic £1890pa
Couple £1860pa
30hrs £775pa

£17,955 - £6,420 = £11,535
39% = £4498.65 to be deducted from award = £26.35pa*

Single person with children, 30+ hours - WTC entitlement ends at approx £18,022pa

WTC max award = £4,525pa
Basic £1890pa
Lone P £1860pa
30hrs £775pa

£18,022 - £6,420 = £11,602
39% = £4,524.78 to be deducted from award = £0.22pa*

Couple with children, 30+ hours - WTC entitlement ends at approx £18,022pa

WTC max award = £4,525pa
Basic £1890pa
Couple £1860pa
30hrs £775pa

£18,022 - £6,420 = £11,602
39% = £4,524.78 to be deducted from award = £0.22pa*


Single person with children, 16-29 hours - WTC entitlement ends at approx £16,035pa

WTC max award = £3,750pa
Basic £1890pa
Lone P £1860pa

£16,035 - £6,420 = £9,615
39% = £3,749.85 to be deducted from award = £0.15pa*

Couple with children, 16-29 hours - WTC entitlement ends at approx £16,035pa

WTC max award = £3,750pa
Basic £1890pa
Couple £1860pa

£16,035 - £6,420 = £9,615
39% = £3,749.85 to be deducted from award = £0.15pa*

(*awards below £26pa are not paid, but claimants with children would also be claiming CTC so WTC could go down to £0.01pa and still be payable.)