specialist team for tax credits renewal (merged)

MYDOGCRYSTAL

Hi
Im new to this forum and have been reading your comments and would appreciate some help from TaxCreditHelp please if possible. I too received one of these letters about april and just kept it, as I normally renew by post i did just that but heard nothing after 5 weeks, then i went on this site and decided best ring specialist team so i did and renewed. Im on incapacity and gave my figures for that which is fine and my husband has just had his first full year as self employed but work pretty thin on the ground so reckoned he would be at a loss. The lady was great and said that all sounds ok and i will finalise your renewal now just ring with exact figures before january 31st when you do self assessment.

2 days later get a letter asking for my husbands unique self employed taxpayer ref, type of work, number of hours(both of which i had already told her) invoices for work bank statements for business only and copies of adverts. I was a bit surprised as she had told me it was finalised provisionally til january 31st anyway. The ref is RYSCAR/T27, the letter came from the preston main office specialist renewal team where i sent my form off but i had spoken to specialist renewal team elsewhere, ironically the date is the same as the date i called and i have to send the info to preston although the telephone number for the adviser is blackpool. im confused, anyway spoke to someone in the office who said they just wanted proof he is working really rather than amount as i can finalise that in january and if he hasnt done much work but has been going out every day looking for work thats classed as working as far as tax credits are concerned but how do you prove it?

Any advice would be appreciated so I can send off the right stuff and get this finalised, must add that i suffer from mental illness and stuff like this freaks me out as i have anxiety attacks, just dont like having to deal with these sort of things, probably sounds silly to everyone but thats how i feel:(

thanks anyone who can advise

TaxCreditHelp

MYDOGCRYSTAL wrote: »

Hi
Im new to this forum and have been reading your comments and would appreciate some help from TaxCreditHelp please if possible. I too received one of these letters about april and just kept it, as I normally renew by post i did just that but heard nothing after 5 weeks, then i went on this site and decided best ring specialist team so i did and renewed. Im on incapacity and gave my figures for that which is fine and my husband has just had his first full year as self employed but work pretty thin on the ground so reckoned he would be at a loss. The lady was great and said that all sounds ok and i will finalise your renewal now just ring with exact figures before january 31st when you do self assessment.

2 days later get a letter asking for my husbands unique self employed taxpayer ref, type of work, number of hours(both of which i had already told her) invoices for work bank statements for business only and copies of adverts. I was a bit surprised as she had told me it was finalised provisionally til january 31st anyway. The ref is RYSCAR/T27, the letter came from the preston main office specialist renewal team where i sent my form off but i had spoken to specialist renewal team elsewhere, ironically the date is the same as the date i called and i have to send the info to preston although the telephone number for the adviser is blackpool. im confused, anyway spoke to someone in the office who said they just wanted proof he is working really rather than amount as i can finalise that in january and if he hasnt done much work but has been going out every day looking for work thats classed as working as far as tax credits are concerned but how do you prove it?

Any advice would be appreciated so I can send off the right stuff and get this finalised, must add that i suffer from mental illness and stuff like this freaks me out as i have anxiety attacks, just dont like having to deal with these sort of things, probably sounds silly to everyone but thats how i feel:(

thanks anyone who can advise

This could be one of three things:

(1) The Specialist Renewals Team adviser may have required further information from you but only realised this after the call had ended. If they were unable to reach you by phone they would send a letter asking for the information they need.

(2) Your Tax Credit award may not have Self-Employment details for your husband. Complete Self-Employment details on the Tax Credit system consist of the UTR number, the number of weekly hours worked, and start date. If these details are not on the system an incompatibility will be created and the renewal will be unable to be processed.

(3) Another officer may have been working your case from a list on the same day you called. This kind of double-handling can occur from time to time.

The letter you received is from the Blackpool office but all mail correspondence for Tax Credit Office should be sent to the Preston mail room and will be re-routed from there.

I advise returning as much detail as you can regarding your husband's Self-Employment... or calling the Specialist Renewals Team back once his Self Assessment has been completed and returned to HMRC as Tax Credit Office can obtain access to the Self-Assessment system and confirm Self-Employed income that way.

Hope this helps.

MYDOGCRYSTAL

Hi Tax Credit Help

Thanks very much for your help, Ive been given until 23rd July to send the information, I can send what ive got but if I asked for more time to give my husband chance to go and do his self assessment then I can send her all the details do you think this would be acceptable or is she wanting to establish he has been working and is eligible for WTC in which case she wont find this acceptable, he has his self employment unique code but obviously there wont be any earnings there yet.

thanks

MYDOGCRYSTAL

Hi Again

sorry to bug you but forgot to ask what kind of things I can send to prove hes out looking for work and doing odd jobs, hes been without his own vehicle for a while so has had to rely on a friend picking him up which he has done every morning and they share the petrol and he has the petrol receipts etc, just want to send as much info as i can and ask for more time to get him to self assess properly, self employment seems to make such a mess of things especially if self assessment is late or complicated and my husband always leaves me to deal with these things.

Also when looking through my records I see that on my last award despite my sending a letter recorded delivery at end of january this year for last year to amend my husbands paye salary for last year and mine its still not right because my salary for that year included a pay off to finish work which i believe shouldnt have been included as i was sick and my husbands was a bit more than estimated, i may have got the amendment letter and not kept it but i want to be sure, i can send another letter but will look a proper numpty now(glad i recorded it because they must have got it) and i dont want to be told off for not noticing sooner but i know the exact date i sent the letter and i know it was recorded, can they just adjust an amount for claim that closed, i dont think it makes a difference to the amount i was receiving but i like to keep records straight.

Sorry to be such a worry wart, on my medication i forget things and then panic and it would help me immensely to have your advice as a tax credit person so i get it right, i know that the specialist team are there for this very reason but talking on the phone you forget things and then think afterwards.

Anyway thanks expect you are watching football today hope they win:beer:

shelleps

i was also asked for p60 and childcare receipts, bt i have a letter from the nursery confirming the figres - is that ok??? i never got any receipts

MYDOGCRYSTAL

Hi

I think a lot of people have been asked for extra information. Ive spoken to the adviser in question and been told he has to have registered as self employed and NI, neither of which we were told by the job centre,, he can do it now but even if he proves hes been working and earned x amount of pounds and goes and self assesses with the inland revenue does this mean that the decision on my renewal will be that we werent eligible for WTC and therefore will have to pay it all back for 2009/2010. If this is the case and Tax credits insist on this now and seeing proof of this then it might have been nice to have been told when i told them my husband had lost his job and was going self employed that unless he did all this this BEFORE he did any work that tax credits wouldnt acknowledge his work. My poor hubby has been out at 7.30 every morning doing anything he can to feed us and find work and now we are told he should have done it all and given a reference before he worked. I suppose now that my WTC will be stopped and only restarted now when he does all the registering etc and everything we were paid for WTC last year will have to be repaid so is there any point in self assessing now until next year, he never claimed job seekers so we have missed a year of that too because he did work.

Dont know what to do and would appreciate Tax Credit Helps help if possible sorry to go on, self employment is so messy with proving time spent etc wish he had never bothered and just gone on the dole now.

TaxCreditHelp

MYDOGCRYSTAL wrote: »

Hi

I think a lot of people have been asked for extra information. Ive spoken to the adviser in question and been told he has to have registered as self employed and NI, neither of which we were told by the job centre,, he can do it now but even if he proves hes been working and earned x amount of pounds and goes and self assesses with the inland revenue does this mean that the decision on my renewal will be that we werent eligible for WTC and therefore will have to pay it all back for 2009/2010. If this is the case and Tax credits insist on this now and seeing proof of this then it might have been nice to have been told when i told them my husband had lost his job and was going self employed that unless he did all this this BEFORE he did any work that tax credits wouldnt acknowledge his work. My poor hubby has been out at 7.30 every morning doing anything he can to feed us and find work and now we are told he should have done it all and given a reference before he worked. I suppose now that my WTC will be stopped and only restarted now when he does all the registering etc and everything we were paid for WTC last year will have to be repaid so is there any point in self assessing now until next year, he never claimed job seekers so we have missed a year of that too because he did work.

Dont know what to do and would appreciate Tax Credit Helps help if possible sorry to go on, self employment is so messy with proving time spent etc wish he had never bothered and just gone on the dole now.

Earlier you mentioned a UTR... if your husband has a UTR then he will be registered as Self-Employed.

He would have registered as Self-Employed with H.M. Revenue & Customs which has overall responsibility for not just Self Assessment but Tax Credits, Income Tax and National Insurance.

Once working as Self-Employed you should register with Self Assessment as soon as possible as failing to do so may constitute tax evasion.

Does your husband have, or had he ever had, a Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number?

MYDOGCRYSTAL

Hi Tax Credit Help

Yes he has had a UTR as he was self employed 2004/5 and 6 and then he went PAYE and then when he lost his job he decided to try self employed again using the same name etc, he had to go to the tax office and do some tax details and a late assessment when he lost his job as he was owed some tax back, I thought he had just registered he was back self employed then as i think he applied again for some kind og building or contract sorry to be vague will have to check that. Anyway i went online today and registered him self employed going back to the day he started and for NI contributions if he needs to pay them. Tax office said they will send him self assessment form and he can go in and do it all with them but what im worried about is if this is too late now and even though he can tell tax credits what he earned after hes been with his expenses petrol and all the rest that specialist renewal team will say he should have done it before. Will they renew me and take WTC off us and make us pay what we had for 2009/2010 or now that he has registered using same UTR will it be counted.

Sounds stupid now i suppose my husband just thought his old UTR would be sufficient and he could self assess with that but i get the impression thats wrong now. I think the lady from specialist wants proof hes been working before she will renew my claim, she said its alright me saying hes been working but he could have pocketed the money!!

Anyway now he has registered again and will go to tax office what next or will i just have to repay the WTC from last year and just start getting it from now when he re registered.

Anyway I really do appreciate your help, he has been working, looking for work etc otherwise we would have been claiming jobseekers but i feel like we may have lost the right for last year now to get it. As my husband is just building up the business properly now he has his own van and not rely on other people to work with this year should be better but if i lose WTC and have to pay back all we had last year its going to be very hard for us. The lady didnt say that was what would happen but I assume if shes not convinced hes been working then she will have to make the decision about our claim to remove the WTC for last year is that right that she will do that?


Just wish we had looked into it more instead of just assuming it was ok because he was out every day either doing work or looking for work.

Thanks

Deepmistrust

MYDOGCRYSTAL wrote: »

Hi Tax Credit Help

Yes he has had a UTR as he was self employed 2004/5 and 6 and then he went PAYE and then when he lost his job he decided to try self employed again using the same name etc, he had to go to the tax office and do some tax details and a late assessment when he lost his job as he was owed some tax back, I thought he had just registered he was back self employed then as i think he applied again for some kind og building or contract sorry to be vague will have to check that. Anyway i went online today and registered him self employed going back to the day he started and for NI contributions if he needs to pay them. Tax office said they will send him self assessment form and he can go in and do it all with them but what im worried about is if this is too late now and even though he can tell tax credits what he earned after hes been with his expenses petrol and all the rest that specialist renewal team will say he should have done it before. Will they renew me and take WTC off us and make us pay what we had for 2009/2010 or now that he has registered using same UTR will it be counted.

Sounds stupid now i suppose my husband just thought his old UTR would be sufficient and he could self assess with that but i get the impression thats wrong now. I think the lady from specialist wants proof hes been working before she will renew my claim, she said its alright me saying hes been working but he could have pocketed the money!!

Anyway now he has registered again and will go to tax office what next or will i just have to repay the WTC from last year and just start getting it from now when he re registered.

Anyway I really do appreciate your help, he has been working, looking for work etc otherwise we would have been claiming jobseekers but i feel like we may have lost the right for last year now to get it. As my husband is just building up the business properly now he has his own van and not rely on other people to work with this year should be better but if i lose WTC and have to pay back all we had last year its going to be very hard for us. The lady didnt say that was what would happen but I assume if shes not convinced hes been working then she will have to make the decision about our claim to remove the WTC for last year is that right that she will do that?


Just wish we had looked into it more instead of just assuming it was ok because he was out every day either doing work or looking for work.

Thanks

I can't answer regarding WTC entitlement (leave that for Tax Credit Help I think!), but did he ever self-assess in the he was employed i.e. 2006-present?

Has he also still been paying his Class 2 NIC's every month (or declare a small earnings excemption every year?)

These are the two give aways as to whether he is still registered as Self-Employed by HMRC or not.

Alternatively why don't you ring the Self Employed helpline on 0845 915 4515, and find out for certain if he has or hasn't been registered as Self-Employed all this time.

But, I suspect he hasn't, or you would remember getting an letter annually from HMRC asking him to Self-Assess.

If HMRC has also since accepted him as Self-Employed from April 2009 then (Speaking from Opinion only), I would imagine that the WTC people, are just double checking there is nothing untoward going on.

I assume he has kept business accounts for the year? Recorded his mileage, copies of invoices, details and receipts of expenditure etc etc?

MYDOGCRYSTAL

Hi

Phoned up and he hadnt re registered, so now i know why specialist team said what i told them didnt match records!! self employment told me to register back to the date he started, they would re register him (not sure whether with new or old UTR) and send assessment forms and NI form to backdate on direct debit. He said it wasnt too late to do this and we had now done the right thing, not sure if Tax Credits will accept this as an error which has been rectified now or refuse to pay me WTC for last tax year (hopefully not). Any advice TaxCreditHelp can give me now would be appreciated and if he/she knows if they will stop my WTC :eek:. We know he has to self assess and get his proper income verified by Inland Revenue but will this be enough now for specialist team or do we have to still show proof he worked(still dont know how to prove manual paperwork,phone calls etc as time worked). Ive done everything today opened business account the lot so this can never happen again, maybe he should pay me a part time wage!!

Any advice as what else I can do would be appreciated.