Tax Credits: Why So Complex? discussion

cazmorg

Bring back the good old days where you got a taxable allowance. Things were simple then. Since taxcredits have been introduced, I have always made sure I have updated them every time my circumstances have changed within 24 hours of them happening. It has still not stopped me being overpaid nearly every year, so the following year you are in constant debt to them. I struggle to manage every month as it is with a huge mortgage, low income and 3 children, so to then have outgoings that i wasnt expecting means I am then slipping further into debt as time goes by. All I want is to know exactly what I have coming in every month so I can budget properly. If they continue with the current system, then make it easy to work out exactly what you should be getting so you can check it against what you are actually receiving. That way everyone would benefit - the government and all us parents and it would save a lot of unnecessary stress.

montymontezuma

indipop wrote: »

As we're not married we got two sets of forms sent out every time they needed to contact us: probably cost more in admin than they were paying out.

Interesting that, 'cos we've been married for 22 years & we get two sets of forms sent out too.

Additionally, when our income went down by several thousand pounds, we contacted them & they said that there would be no change as the bands were quite wide & we were still well within ours!

Confused? You will be...:rotfl:

erniegoody

I have never understood how this works either as it is to complicated and too odious.

In my mind the easier way to work this would be to have a tax threshold according to your need, so a basic tax level plus additions for family etc. If you earn over that amount you pay tax, if you earn less, then the taxman pays you the difference.

So as an example a married man with two children would say need a basic income of say £15000 per year. If you earn less than that the taxman makes up the difference. If you earn more than that you get nothing and start paying tax.

It could all be done through the tax coding system, cut out loads of staff who half the time seem to get things wrong anyway and would stop people having to pay back monies they have been over paid.

annmarie123_2

Can you tell me if i come into a large amount of money from ex for my maintenance not childrens - am i still eligible for tax credit

tpic69

if your award goes off the previous year how come my tax credits went down for this year from £100 to £38 when i told them my eldest daughter had moved out?i rang them and asked why it had gone down now so much if it goes off last year,when also my husbands wages were a lot less as he started back in the raf again in april,they said its complicated and the lady couldnt explain to me,and im not a stupid person!!so were being penalised this year when my daughter was with us for all of last year,how does that work and should it go down so much,im losing £64 a week which doesnt seem right,but its made up so people cant understand how it works.i think its a very unfair,complicated and complex system made up so people wont understand it,so ye were struggling now but who cares.if we was on benefits we`d be better off!!
a very angry tax payer,full time mum and unfortunatley british citizen,proud to be british,mmmm not at the moment,we need to be looking after the tax payers as what would the government do if we all decided to go onto benefits??
sorry to waffle on,but im so angry..
we`ll never better ourselves with this system.

fregblodds

The Tax Credits system is severely flawed and the vast majority of those that work with in it have no idea how to implement the proceedures. It is virtually impossible to make a complaint, to have direct contact with anyone but the "Helpline " which is a joke, and anything out of the ordinary can suspend or delete a claim from the system. Having "fought the system" for almost three years the Tax Credits offices have many times put myself and my family in severe financial hardship but the "system" does not care nor does it seek to find a speedy solution. The stresses and strains of trying to obtain the money to which we have been and are still entitled to has come close to breaking the family apart. We have been fortunate that we were able to organise funds from other sources but these funds have had to be repaid and have cost more in interest and other charges in order to secure food on the table which had the "system" done its job should never have been necessary.
To date there are several thousands of pounds still outstanding to our family which date back to 2007, thanks to a person who gave out incorrect information back in 2006. A compensation payment of a paltry £120 has never materialised despite many phone calls asking for its whereabouts and a final letter from the "system" which is necessary in order to proceed through to the adjudicator has also never materialised.
The sad part in all this is that we know we are not alone and many families have already either given up or have been put in situations of such dire hardship that the family relationships have irretrievably broken down.
Feeding the wealthy banking world with millions of pounds of tax payers money to support the "lost millions" and paying extortionate expenses to MP's who do little other than line their own pockets when some families are close to starving because a seriously flawed Tax Credits system, is to me at least, disgusting in the extreme.

GirlyGirl_2

annmarie123 wrote: »

Can you tell me if i come into a large amount of money from ex for my maintenance not childrens - am i still eligible for tax credit

Maintenance doesn't count as income at all, if they ask, which they won't say it's for the kids.

Brisbaneroad

I have never had much of a problem with tax credits - each year I check the form (duplicated of course!), check my earnings, and conlcude that I don't need to do anything as they will be automatically renewed. This year I kept hearing dire warnings in adverts on the radio "You MUST renew your claim by July 31st or your payments WILL stop". So I rang them up, and nope, I don't need to renew (just as I thought). So why the alarmist adverts? Do they have nothing better to spend our money on than spreading false information?

kcthornton

Note that for every £1 you earn over around £16k the tax credit is reduced by 39p, which is effectivekly a 39% income tax on top of the exisiting 20% or 40%!

Kevin-E

I am of the opinion that the tax credit system we now have is the most user friendly assistance for working people thus far. I cannot see the derogatory comments about the system as being fair as there is plenty of help and guidance given on the website, by post via the booklet (which seems to be kept up to date) and by telephone (use 01355 359007 to avoid the 0845 charges). As far as I am concerned, being someone that has a situation that is unusual, the system works, is sympathetic for situations beyond the 'norm', is flexible and does not discriminate against the self employed or those struggling to become independent. The first Tax Credits scheme was grossly unfair and penalised those who have tried to save for the future knocks in life or who have saved to start up in business for the long term, but, this has been rectified in the new tax credits. My only gripe is the lingering extra support to those with children when they already receive generous child allowances. No system is perfect but, even though this system was probably devised by ex-public school cretins (private and privileged to explain to those outside the UK), it is probably one of the better ideas from our corrupt government.