Friend Husband Left and She's left on her own with 2 kids, advise needed

calash

Valli wrote: »

CTC replaced (eventually) what used to be the Married Man's Tax Allowance. Which used to be higher than a single man's allowance or a woman's allowance. It used to have the code H after it.
They did without it for 2/3 years then introduced Child tax Credits to give families (whether the parents were married or not,or single parents, a higher tax allowance to reflect their higher living expenses .
At one time a working wife with a non-working husband could set both her own, and her husband's, tax allowance against her own wages!

(And Child Benefit used to be called Family Allowance hence the child allowance confusion ^^)

and just to set your minds at rest I DON'T work for H.M.R.C.;)

Thanks for that, about 6 years ago, HM got our tax credits mixed up and I ended up owing them about 6k, so I have claimed at all for any tax credit at all, do you think it might be worth me calling them as its been so long

dmg24

calash wrote: »

Thanks for that, about 6 years ago, HM got our tax credits mixed up and I ended up owing them about 6k, so I have claimed at all for any tax credit at all, do you think it might be worth me calling them as its been so long

You can reapply for CTC at any time, but you should be aware that your previous overpayment will be offset against any current award. I would give them a call.

calash

dmg24 wrote: »

You can reapply for CTC at any time, but you should be aware that your previous overpayment will be offset against any current award. I would give them a call.

But if I haven't claim anything for so long, I would still be paying that off, is that right?

dmg24

calash wrote: »

But if I haven't claim anything for so long, I would still be paying that off, is that right?

Yep, that is correct. Did you check that the overpayment was correct?

Does your friend still need help? You seem to have gone off at a tangent!

daska

karenx wrote: »

she doesn't have nothing to live on, she has her disability, child benefit and tax credits

how do you know that she is claiming CB and CTC when the OP hasn't stated this? Believe it or not there are people who don't know about these things. Including some very intelligent ones. My ex husband didn't know about them until his child turned 6, neither did my best friend until her child turned 3 - and I hadn't bothered to mention them because I assumed everyone knew about them.

Valli

If you run your own details through the entitled to website you'll find out..as I understand it, though I may be wrong, a family can have quite a high income (about £60K which, from where I'm standing is a VERY high income) and still be entitled to CTC (Child Tax Credits) or WFTC (Working Familes Tax Credits). Personally I feel it's always worth asking - have claimed for council tax funding a few times but never got it though!
Free school meals can be given to families earning/with an income of up to about £15K although I do believe that if WFTC forms part of that income then Free School Meals are not paid. Check Local Authority sites for that. Schools LIKE you to take up entitlement to Free School Meals BTW;)
Claiming WFTC/CTC can also entitle the family to free prescriptions/optical/dental care (NOT to be sniffed at!). They send you a credit card sized certicate automatically!

Your friend needs to inform the council she's on her own now anyway, as her council tax liability will have reduced by 25% even if she isn't paying it...also she needs to get the tenancy agreement in her own name.

bestpud

calash wrote: »

But if I haven't claim anything for so long, I would still be paying that off, is that right?

Only if you have actually been claiming and receiving nothing.

If you let the claim die and have not renewed every year then you will still owe the money.

Valli

daska wrote: »

how do you know that she is claiming CB and CTC when the OP hasn't stated this? Believe it or not there are people who don't know about these things. Including some very intelligent ones. My ex husband didn't know about them until his child turned 6, neither did my best friend until her child turned 3 - and I hadn't bothered to mention them because I assumed everyone knew about them.

I once advised a friend to tell the tax office she and her partner had a child - they should have been claiming an extra tax allowance. Her employers hadn't told them; neither had his. Their claim went back 5/6 years and a 4 figure sum dropped through their door one day! They would never have known if it had not occurred to me to ask a rather impertinent question one day!

dmg24

Valli wrote: »

I once advised a friend to tell the tax office she and her partner had a child - they should have been claiming an extra tax allowance. Her employers hadn't told them; neither had his. Their claim went back 5/6 years and a 4 figure sum dropped through their door one day! They would never have known if it had not occurred to me to ask a rather impertinent question one day!

Unfortunately Tax Credits can only be backdated up to three months in most cases.

Valli

dmg24 wrote: »

Unfortunately Tax Credits can only be backdated up to three months in most cases.

this was TAX ALLOWANCE (ie an L code was being applied to both sets of wages when one of them should have had an H code.not tax credits...proper tax allowances had not been set againsts income and tax claims can, I believe, go back 7 years...I presume it works both ways!

Tax Credits are a whole different ball game - I have YET to discover (a) how my CTC and WFTC are calcluated and (b) if it's correct!