WTC / Last Years earnings ??

mitchaa

21Twinkle wrote: »

OK - I am starting a (low paid) job in mid September - I have checked on Direct Gov and it reckons that I am entitled to £122.50 per week in WTC.....
When do I apply for this ?
According to the details that I can see - I need to put in a claim for this tax year by July 4th !!!

You apply for it when you are working, without sounding rude, the clue is in the name and I thought that would have been more than obvious?

50Twuncle

Another related question
In the HMRC questionnaire.
Tax Credits - do you qualify ?
Do you or your partner work at least 30 hours per week ?
This is presumably individually ?

Because - according to another site ( http://www.centa.co.uk/Notices.aspx?NoticeID=100) - this is "JOINT" ie combined

I may have opened a can of worms .... this is extremely complex....
This £25,00 that has been mentioned - appears to have grown to £26,400 (from what I can figure for a "disabled married" person at least..)
Also - from what I can gather, WTC are calculated to run over a full year - what happens if someone is on a 6 month contract - and doesn't continue in work after this period ?

Horseunderwater

I may have opened a can of worms .... this is extremely complex....
This £25,00 that has been mentioned - appears to have grown to £26,400 (from what I can figure for a "disabled married" person at least..)
Also - from what I can gather, WTC are calculated to run over a full year - what happens if someone is on a 6 month contract - and doesn't continue in work after this period ?[/QUOTE]
Hi
So far as I know WTC only gets paid out if you are actually in work. So should you be signing on and claiming JSA and seeking work, you will no longer be entitled to it. But you should still get the CTC that is not linked to how many hours worked like the family element and the child element and if disability that part too. So tell HMRC sooner rather than later or you'll end up like me with an overpayment to pay back over 7 years. We only qualify for the family element of £545 each year, which we never get as it is kept to go cover the overpayment. Even though twice in this period, we have needed that money, they refused to pay it out and we ended up living on £56.50 each week for 3 people. Financial hardship apparently in our case did not come into it at all. All because in the PYI we earned over the higher cut off point between us. And yes when I advised them of our estimated current income, that failed to help either.
I know I'm far from the only one with this problem, but the system is very unfair as it does not take into account rent or mortgage needs.
Also it is based on gross income, not net income received in paypacket as was the old system of family credit.
The system should be based on net income less say £480 towards a mortgage or rental need disregard as that would be much fairer to a family in say a 4 bed house. (I used the figure given in the recent budget by new chancellor).
Frances.

debrag

Icequeen99 wrote: »

As this thread shows, they generally use income from the previous tax year but it is always CURRENT circumstances that determine what parts of tax credits you qualify for.

It is your working hours now. So if you work 30 now, you may qualify, and they will pay you based on last years income.

IQ

Great, I work 35 hours for min wage

50Twuncle

Horseunderwater wrote: »

Hi
So far as I know WTC only gets paid out if you are actually in work. So should you be signing on and claiming JSA and seeking work, you will no longer be entitled to it. But you should still get the CTC that is not linked to how many hours worked like the family element and the child element and if disability that part too. So tell HMRC sooner rather than later or you'll end up like me with an overpayment to pay back over 7 years. We only qualify for the family element of £545 each year, which we never get as it is kept to go cover the overpayment. Even though twice in this period, we have needed that money, they refused to pay it out and we ended up living on £56.50 each week for 3 people. Financial hardship apparently in our case did not come into it at all. All because in the PYI we earned over the higher cut off point between us. And yes when I advised them of our estimated current income, that failed to help either.
I know I'm far from the only one with this problem, but the system is very unfair as it does not take into account rent or mortgage needs.
Also it is based on gross income, not net income received in paypacket as was the old system of family credit.
The system should be based on net income less say £480 towards a mortgage or rental need disregard as that would be much fairer to a family in say a 4 bed house. (I used the figure given in the recent budget by new chancellor).
Frances.

At the moment - I am on ESA (c) of £91 per week - and with 16 hours paying £96 per week - a top up of (an estimated) £122 per week from WTC will be welcome !!

Icequeen99

21Twinkle wrote: »

Another related question
In the HMRC questionnaire.
Tax Credits - do you qualify ?
Do you or your partner work at least 30 hours per week ?
This is presumably individually ?

Because - according to another site ( http://www.centa.co.uk/Notices.aspx?NoticeID=100) - this is "JOINT" ie combined

I may have opened a can of worms .... this is extremely complex....
This £25,00 that has been mentioned - appears to have grown to £26,400 (from what I can figure for a "disabled married" person at least..)
Also - from what I can gather, WTC are calculated to run over a full year - what happens if someone is on a 6 month contract - and doesn't continue in work after this period ?

The £25,000 income disregard is fixed at £25,000 it doesn't change (except it will in 2011-2012) but what I mean is it doesn't change due to circumstances.

Your maximum credits, and the level of income you have before you lose tax credits does change based on your circumstances and so if you add disability you can earn more.

Your comment re the 30 hours - you are confusing the 30 hr qualification criteria and the 30hr element. basically, if you don't have children or are disabled, you need to work at least 30 hrs to qualify for WTC. You cannot combine hours with your partner to qualify.

However, there is something called a 30hr element, which you get if you work at least 30 hours, or if a couple combined work 30 hours (providing at least one works at least 16). It is two different things.

IQ

50Twuncle

Icequeen99 wrote: »

Your comment re the 30 hours - you are confusing the 30 hr qualification criteria and the 30hr element. basically, if you don't have children or are disabled, you need to work at least 30 hrs to qualify for WTC. You cannot combine hours with your partner to qualify.

However, there is something called a 30hr element, which you get if you work at least 30 hours, or if a couple combined work 30 hours (providing at least one works at least 16). It is two different things.
IQ

I am even more confused now
All I am asking is if (as a disabled person) - I work for 16 hours and my wife works for 20 hours per week - is that more than the 30 hours required to answer the question "Do you or your partner work 30 hours per week ?"
should that be worded as "Do you AND/OR your partner work 30 hours per week ?"

Indie_Kid

21Twinkle wrote: »

Also - from what I can gather, WTC are calculated to run over a full year - what happens if someone is on a 6 month contract - and doesn't continue in work after this period ?

To claim WTC, you must work for a period of at least 4 weeks.

50Twuncle

sh1305 wrote: »

To claim WTC, you must work for a period of at least 4 weeks.

I have a job for 6 months fixed term starting in 7 weeks time !!

50Twuncle

Anyway - it appears that I am entitled to £122 per week WTC - which will prove useful !!