£600 TC overpayment but income only increased by £1000

mrsm

I went back to work after maternity leave a month early as I am pregnant again and needed to be earning to qualify for SMP.

This meant when I declared our final income for 2005-2006 it was just over £1000 more than the expected figure I gave them last year (went with an esitmate for earnings rather than previous years earnings as was on SMP and so much less than normal salary).

Now the paperwork has come through i've been overpaid £600 odd and yet our income only increased by just over 1K. Surely this cant be right?

I have 2 children, born December 2003 and April 2005 and used to get £188 every 4 weeks

CIS

On £1000, the minimujm overpayment would have been .37 of that or £222, so to accrue £600 there must be another reason on top as to why the overpayment is higher.

When calcualting the total income , did you remember to include all bonuses that you received etc etc ?

On the other side, did you remember to deduct £100 from your income for every week that you claimed SMP ?, you need to do this manually as your P60 will only include your full salary, not the adjusted figure the TCO want.

mrsm

neither of us receive bonuses, hubby's figure was from his P60 less £200 for 2 weeks SPP, mine was P60 figure less 25 weeks @£100 for SMP.

I've dug out the old award, and I earnt more than I said (sorry) My earnings were understated by £1734, hubby's overstated by £33 so in all we earned £1701 more than the award was originally based on. The amount overpaid was £629.37

Does this sound right now?

The thing that's worrying me is will it get really confusing in August when I start to claim for the new baby?

One other Q if I may. I was told I may be able to claim the sure start grant and its based on TC, do you know how much I have to get to qualify?

CIS

£1701 income would giave an overpayment of £629.37, so thats spot on.

For teh sure start maternitygarnt, you need to get a tax credit award thats equal to or more than the Family + Baby element = £1095 p/a.

When you claim for a new child, you only need to tell them the DOB etc and the rest is up to them to adjust the award.

mrsm

thanks cis, I guessed they would have it right but it did seem a lot compared to the increase in income.

My award for 2006-2007 at the moment (without a child under 1) is £2090.54 but that includes the overpayment. Still I think that means I get the grant (believe me I used to have a brain before I became a mummy:rotfl: )

I've not had any worries with TC before, always been helpful and i think got it right, but am terrified of overpayments especially as I have finally become a stay at home mummy so wont have extra income to fall back on if we are overpaid

Thanks for you help though CIS, you're a star:T