drop in income and working tax credits.

stephbond89

We just started getting Working Tax Credit as we had a baby- we get £9 a week working on our last yrs income of £16,869 and working 60 hours a week.

My husband has now taken a HUGE drop in his hours, and will be working no more than 30 hours, and we estimated our income for 10/11 to be £12000 (maybe less, but £12k is the most it will be).

I have phoned the working tax credits up and told them this, but the lady couldnt really give me any information on what we would get now in the revision of it. Only that I would get a new award notice.

When I did an online check it said that with our last yrs income and working 20 hours (I put the lesser amount in there which he wuold be working), we would get NO working tax credit even though we have now taken a drop in wages of about £300 a month!

Will HMRC take into account the estimated 10/11 gross annual income of £12,000 when working out what we will get from now on? Or will we really get nothing now even though we get less money?

I have never dealt with tax credits before so I don'treally know whats going on with it all! :S

If anyone knows could they please reply

KimYeovil

There is a mistake somewhere. You will receive credits and will receive more. As far as I know a couple still only need to work 16 hours to qualify for credits.

Try an estimated calculation again from entitledto.com

mummyroysof3

i thought you have to work 30 hours to get working tax credit when your a couple, thats what they told me

RazWaz

It is normally based on the year before but if your drop in income is making it hard for you to pay the bills you can ask them to recalculate based on what you think your total earnings will be for the year. You can call them up and ask for this.

Try not to underestimate what your earnings for the year are as you will probably have to pay back any overpayments next April.

Indie_Kid

KimYeovil wrote: »

There is a mistake somewhere. You will receive credits and will receive more. As far as I know a couple still only need to work 16 hours to qualify for credits.

Try an estimated calculation again from entitledto.com

This is only true if the couple are responsible for a qualifying child or at least one of them has a disability and satisfies the criteria for the disability elements.

RAS

sh1305 wrote: »

This is only true if the couple are responsible for a qualifying child or at least one of them has a disability and satisfies the criteria for the disability elements.

stephbond89 wrote: »

We just started getting Working Tax Credit as we had a baby

Does the baby count as a qualifying child?

flea72

bit confused, so a few Qs

does your OH work 60hrs or is that how many hours you work jointly?

are you getting SMP/MA? how old is baby?

as part of a couple, one of you has to be working at least 16hrs to claim WTC. as your OH will drop to 30hrs, then you also get the additional 30hr element. however if his hours ever drop below this in any given week, then you will have to notify them, and loose this element

based on your current income (£16869), you should be entitled to about £3k/yr in WTC/CTC, so about £57/wk. have you not notified them of your own drop in income due to now being on mat leave?

on your new OHs income of £12k, you will be entitled to about £5k/yr in WTC/CTC, so about £96/wk

hth F

stephbond89

Hello

Just to clear a few thinfs up, I dont work, I didnt work before I had my daughter (didnt need to with my husbands wage as it paid the bills without us needing to be on ANY benefits). Once my daughter was borhn we got tax credits, and it went off our last yrs wage of £16869, meaning we fgot £9 a week in WTC and £62 in CTC (as I dont work I think!).

When my husband wage dropped, we worked out our yearly income would be £12k (going off the "earned so far this yr" on his payslips too)- so i told the tax credits this, and I told them about his drop in working hours too, but now Im worried reading what someone said about the minimunm working hours been 30 to get WTC!? Does this mean Ill not get anything!!! In fact his working hours have gone back to 60 now (still going to be £12k this yr!!!!) what should I do? Wait for my tax credits award to come through and then see if my WTC ends? OR phone them now and risk sitting ion the phone for an hour waiting to get through for no reason!?

flea72

stephbond89 wrote: »

now Im worried reading what someone said about the minimunm working hours been 30 to get WTC!? Does this mean Ill not get anything

you only have to work 16hrs a week to be entitled to WTC. working 30hrs is just an additional element that you get paid extra for. its worth about £800 a year

however, im still a bit confused. you say your OH normally earns just under £17k working 60hrs, but then you go on to say that his hours dropped to 30, and have now gone up again, yet he will still only be bringing in £12k. how? because if he is working 60hrs and bringing in £12k then he is earning below min wage

F

sleepless_saver

flea72 wrote: »

you only have to work 16hrs a week to be entitled to WTC. working 30hrs is just an additional element that you get paid extra for. its worth about £800 a year

here's the definitive version from HMRC website

"Working Tax Credit is for people who are employed or self-employed (either on their own or in a partnership), who

• usually work 16 hours or more a week
• are paid for that work, and
• expect to work for at least 4 weeks

and who are

• aged 16 or over and responsible for at least one child, or
• aged 16 or over and disabled, or
• aged 25 or over and usually work at least 30 hours a week"

HMRC

snuggs_2

I've had this problem recently, you need to ring the tax credits up and ask them if you can predict your income 4 this tax year. They will not ask/tell you that this can be done but I was persistant and found out. That way you get the correct entitlements for the rest of the tax year based on ya income now. Hope above makes sense!! :j