potential payment

vodooelephant

Hi all a little help please....

I called tax credit people as my neighbour said i should be getting much more than than £31 a week i was getting.

They agreed and said that when i informed them i had left my job after maternity leave the person had left my earnings on file?
My tax credits then went up £45 extra a week.

I have had a letter this morning with new figures which also has a potential payment figure on?

Will they pay me this? I am desperate to avoid being overpaid and having to find money to pay them back with.

Thanks

DreamerV

Potential payments are often caused if you report a lower income estimate for the current tax year than was originally given (often happens if you're earning less this year than last year). What happens is, they take your estimate from when you phone to amend it, till the end of the tax year on 5th April, and therefore increase your payments in line with your lower income. They also have to backdate the change to the start of the tax year (6th April 2009), but just in case you've made an error on your estimate (and a lot of people do..e.g. they lose a job, then give an estimate of nil or what they've earned so far, not including potential for further earnings till 5th April 2010) they hold on to the backdated money as a potential payment till you've done your annual declaration for the current tax year. The declaration should come to you anytime from mid April to mid July, and has to be completed by the end of July 2010 by phone or in writing. Once your income is confirmed on your declaration, if the potential payment is still existing based on your figures, then the payment would be released to you by whatever usual method you get paid.

vodooelephant

Thankyou for the reply - I am just nervous they will pay me more than i should be getting then demand it back - they did that with my SIL for nearly 4k.

DreamerV

Most overpayments are caused by people underestimating their income. The potential payment they're holding for you should protect you a little. The main thing is to check your award notice and make sure the details are correct (correct number of children in childcare, children who have gone to uni shouldn't be paid for anymore, etc) and double check you've overestimated at least a little for 09/10 incomes. If you overestimate, you'll still get your money back when you do your declaration as long as you do it ontime.