Can someone advise me re CTC please and casual work.

lalamb

I have applied for a job at Royal Mail as a casual Christmas worker, as far as I know it will be full time until around the 23rd December, so I'm looking at about 10 weeks of work.

I'm worried about my CTC. I am aware I have to declare it, but is it going to cause me more hassle in the long run if I do get this job? Will they stop my CTC right away or reduce my CTC next year? If they deduct it from my CTC next year then it doesn't seem worth taking the job! But if they stop it right now then that would be better because when I finish working for RM I can then inform them of changes.

If this was a full time job I wouldn't even think twice about taking it, it's a no brainer.

So what may seem like a great idea now may not work out well for us in the long run.

I don't know what I should do, any advice on how CTC works in situations like this would be much appreciated!

System

First question is - are you single or is this a joint tax credit claim you have?

Second - if it is joint is your partner working?

If you are single and are unemployed and only getting CTC then when you start working more than 16 hours per week you become entitled to working tax credit (WTC) in addition to your CTC and the gross income from 10 weeks work is unlikely to have a detrimental affect to your overal entitlement in the 2010/11 tax year.

If this is a joint claim and neither you or your partner have given TCO any new estimated income details since making your annual declaration then again 10 weeks income is unlikely to be more than the £25000 disregard.

lalamb

Pam17 wrote: »

First question is - are you single or is this a joint tax credit claim you have?

Second - if it is joint is your partner working?

If you are single and are unemployed and only getting CTC then when you start working more than 16 hours per week you become entitled to working tax credit (WTC) in addition to your CTC and the gross income from 10 weeks work is unlikely to have a detrimental affect to your overal entitlement in the 2010/11 tax year.

If this is a joint claim and neither you or your partner have given TCO any new estimated income details since making your annual declaration then again 10 weeks income is unlikely to be more than the £25000 disregard.

Thanks for the reply.

It is a joint Child Tax Credit claim, we don't get Working Tax Credits.

My husband earns £24000 and we have 3 children, I think I will be getting approx £250 per week from this work, so 10 weeks £2500 bringing it up to £26500

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say £25000?

System

At the moment if your claim is based on the income declared on the last annual declaration you completed (July 2010) then as long as the household income does not increase by more than £25000 in this current tax year (10/11) your entitlement will not be affected.

The £25000 disregard has been in place for a while but the government have announced plans to decrease it in the future.

You only lose the £25000 disregard if you inform TCO, after making the annual declaration, of a drop in income and they recalculate your claim and pay you more money. In that scenario the general advice is to provide TCO with an overestimate of the reduced income rather than underestimate as that avoids potential overpayments.

Going on your situation the 10 weeks work should not affect your entitlement but will bring you in a nice amount of money for the Christmas period

lalamb

Pam17 wrote: »

At the moment if your claim is based on the income declared on the last annual declaration you completed (July 2010) then as long as the household income does not increase by more than £25000 in this current tax year (10/11) your entitlement will not be affected.

The £25000 disregard has been in place for a while but the government have announced plans to decrease it in the future.

You only lose the £25000 disregard if you inform TCO, after making the annual declaration, of a drop in income and they recalculate your claim and pay you more money. In that scenario the general advice is to provide TCO with an overestimate of the reduced income rather than underestimate as that avoids potential overpayments.

Going on your situation the 10 weeks work should not affect your entitlement but will bring you in a nice amount of money for the Christmas period

Thanks I just saw your edit, sent you a PM which you can disregard now.

Thanks again Pam, you have been a great help!!