how long does it take for a new tax credit claim??

nextyeartina

hi guys

just after a little advice if anybody can help. i split from hubby july last year. we've since put a lot of work into the relationship & would love to live together as a family again. my only worry is, i know my single claim will end straight away, but how long does a new claim take?? my hubby is out of work at the mo but i work 16 hours a week. plus the new assessments are going on at the minute so hm revenue will be extra busy. will this delay my claim even longer. i've read some horror stories on here & i'm worried. personally, i've always found tax creds to be very helpful and quick. any advise would be very much appreciated.

tina x

p.s. is there nowhere i could pick up a new claim from as this seems be a big problem with new claims, waiting for the pack. if not, how long should it take to come before i harrass them... . when will the claim be bk dated from - the time i inform them of the change or when they recieve the pack bk?? is it best to send the pack bk recorded or special delivery. sorry for all the questions but i'm so worried.

tina x

TaxCreditHelp

Hi Tina,

Putting a new award into payment depends on a few things, including if Tax Credit Office have all the correct information and if there are any anomalies which require manual intervention.

The new award would be backdated a maximum of 93 days from the date Tax Credit Office receive your new claim pack into their post room at Netherton. From there it will be scanned onto the National Tax Credit System and automatically processed. It's at this point that the system would flag up any errors to be manually checked.

I'm not sure of the timescales for processing new awards into payment at the moment but the main Tax Credit Helpline on 0845 300 3900 may be able to advise when you contact them about your single claim end. It is important that you notify them as soon as your partner moves in as your single award would then be generating an overpayment until you end it.

Hope this helps.

nextyeartina

thanx for that.

recieving the pack is my main concern cos some people on here have had to chase there's up time & time again. obviously they're losing out on tax credits they are entitled to through no fault of there own. it's not fair. they should backdate it from when you first asked them to send the pack out. it isn't the claiments fault they have to wait so long for the pack.

tina x

stephief

Hi,

My single claim took less than 10 days from me sending off the form, to them paying into my account. However, when my partner moved in and we made a joint claim (even though he is disabled and out of work!) it has been four weeks and there is still no sign of any money! Its not even on their system yet! It took them over a week just to send out the new claim pack, which I sent back within an hour, but I havent had a payment from tax credits now for over a month. To say its a struggle is an understatement. Its no wonder so many people fiddle the system when they take so long and cause so much stress. Our income support claim only took a fortnight!

You may be luckier than we are though!

toonbaz

you could try and pick up a claim form from local job centre or hmrc enquiry centre, that would at least save waiting for the form to arrive.
as someone said earlier your claim will be backdated upto 93 days from the day the form is received, obviously you wont have any cross over between two claims though so if your single claim ends from 10 days earlier your joint claim will backdate 9 days.

nextyeartina

thanx stephief - exactly wot i was worried about. they really don't give a damn do they?!

toonbaz - tried jobcentre plus for form to be told you had to get them from tax credits themselves :mad:.

could i not pick on up from a tax office??

craig_dufc

Its nothing to do with them giving a damn or not

the advisor puts a request through for a claim form to be sent.

This is then processed and the form sent, and it can take 10 days to arrive from when the advisor has issued it, as it is sent second class.

like every other organisation, tax credits have processes to follow.

nextyeartina

craig_dufc - have you read some of the stories on here?? people have been left without tax credits for months because of application forms not being recieved by either the applicant or tax credits. it's not the fastest of proceedures considering this money is needed for necessities. i have 3 kids, hubby was made redundant & had no luck finding another job & there's no overtime available where i work. we will have to survive on 16 hours pay per week for however long it takes for tax credits to be sorted out. that's my worry.