Renewing tax credits, bit confused

wobblymummy

Got our tax credit renewal form through the post but it does not contain the figures we quoted last year or this years potential payments, is everyone else's like this ?

It simply says names addresses, hours worked and kids, kids ages no mention of any figures. Do they send this out at a later date ?

We dont get any benefits like CTB or HB

Also the return envelope is a 2nd class envelope address to a Tax Credit office in Netherton Merseyside, is the office not in Preston anymore or is Merseyside dealing with renewals ?

Also, we have underestimated the salary by quite a chunk we estimated it at 13k and it was just over 15k, does this 25k disregard make any difference in this respect ? The total household income was just under 18k and we have been getting WTC. This years income will be around the same (18k) we have two kids and no childcare, one of us is working full time, no change in hours.

Hope we dont have an overpayment as we are really struggling as it is

Angel1978_2

Hiya

Just to let you know I got my renewal pack through and then a week later I got the provisional award through which gave me all the figures. So they do come about a week later

Not sure about the disregard or anything i'm afraid. If there is an overpayment they could take if off your next award over a period of 12 months or so so you'd probably hardly notice it anyhow. Better off sorting your figures out and then giving them the details asap.

carla40

i had my renewal pack last week, if you have got you're latest P60 then it is easier and quicker to ring them with the information and they will answer any questions you have, i rang mine straight through and they were really helpful

wobblymummy

Thanks for your replies.

There is also no space to fill in this years income (estimate) for 2010-2011, my renewal pack came about 10 days ago hopefully the pack for this year will come shortly. Thanks for your replies

carla40

the easiest thing to do is ring them, because when my pack came there was everything in it, it will put you're mind at rest if you ring them

wobin

Your renewal pack is only to renew so it is only looking for last tax year's actual earnings. If I were you I would call up with all the correct income and complete it over the phone and at the same time you can estimate this year's expected income.

With regards to the increase in your income from £13 to £15k there may be an overpayment but that wholly depends on what the income was for the year before last, If your income for 2008-2009 was £13k or lower then you will not have been overpaid for 2009-2010.

wobblymummy

Our income for 2008-2009 was a lot more because I was working.

I got made redundant in March 2009 so my income for the past year has only been JSA (26 weeks) and a tiny bit of redundancy pay, but my husband got paid more than we expected due to an unexpected payrise and some backpay.

Our income will still be less than 2008-2009 because I am still not working, I would say at this stage it would be less than the figures I am about to give as end of year figures because I am still not working and dont get any JSA anymore, Tax credits are our lifeline to be honest

What a mess

mitchaa

wobblymummy wrote: »

Got our tax credit renewal form through the post but it does not contain the figures we quoted last year or this years potential payments, is everyone else's like this ?

It simply says names addresses, hours worked and kids, kids ages no mention of any figures. Do they send this out at a later date ?

We dont get any benefits like CTB or HB

Also the return envelope is a 2nd class envelope address to a Tax Credit office in Netherton Merseyside, is the office not in Preston anymore or is Merseyside dealing with renewals ?

Also, we have underestimated the salary by quite a chunk we estimated it at 13k and it was just over 15k, does this 25k disregard make any difference in this respect ? The total household income was just under 18k and we have been getting WTC. This years income will be around the same (18k) we have two kids and no childcare, one of us is working full time, no change in hours.

Hope we dont have an overpayment as we are really struggling as it is

If the estimated figure for 09/10 is £13k when in fact you have earned £18k then the awards you have received so far this FY (10-11) are going to be wrong and based on the £13k figure.

Not quite sure what your figures are, you mention just over £15k and just under £18k?

wobblymummy

The figures we gave for last year (estimate) was 15k total household income, the actual figure is looking like £17,800, so more than we estimated.

mitchaa

Your estimate for 09/10 earnings was £15k so at the moment your tax credit award for this FY 10-11 will be based on £15k and you will be getting paid at the moment as if you earned £15k.

When you renew and you tell them you earned £17.8k, the only overpayments will have been from the start of this financial year. They will just adjust your award over the rest of the year to account for that additional money.

However, there is another scenario where all of last year may have resulted in an overpayment....

For example, say your earnings for 08/09 were £18k and you phoned them up sometime in 09/10 and stated that your earnings were likely only to be £13k. As a result your award was increased and based around this £13k for that year. Come April 2010 and your P60 records show that you earned £18k then you will have been overpaid for that whole year.

wobblymummy

Hi

Our earnings in 2008 were a lot more but I was made redundant at the same time as the tax credits were renewed in April 2009 so instead of amending the award when we came to estimate for the coming year we gave them the estimate of 15k which we believed to be right at the time we renewed, we havent made any changes to the award since we renewed - we didnt change it half way through the year or anything like that