tax credits help please

jamieamelia

hi all, sorry for starting new thread, just not sure which one to tag it onto, i am just wondering really if tax credits sometimes owe you money at the end of the tax year? last year i was earning about £13,500 and then in may i changed my job and then fell pregnant so my earnings for this year dropped to just over £5000. i called tax credits and they took this into account and changed my award, on my award notice it says something on the lines of money still owed to you £600 (ish) but from what i can work out thats not including my monthly payments, does that mean when i renew my claim in april they will owe me the £600? i was thinking maybe because i had such a dramatic decrease in earnings maybe they hold it back to make sure i am telling the truth when it comes to renewal time....thanks for your time, i hope this all makes sense to someone?
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zagfles

jamieamelia wrote: »

hi all, sorry for starting new thread, just not sure which one to tag it onto, i am just wondering really if tax credits sometimes owe you money at the end of the tax year? last year i was earning about £13,500 and then in may i changed my job and then fell pregnant so my earnings for this year dropped to just over £5000. i called tax credits and they took this into account and changed my award, on my award notice it says something on the lines of money still owed to you £600 (ish) but from what i can work out thats not including my monthly payments, does that mean when i renew my claim in april they will owe me the £600? i was thinking maybe because i had such a dramatic decrease in earnings maybe they hold it back to make sure i am telling the truth when it comes to renewal time....thanks for your time, i hope this all makes sense to someone?
:A:A:A

Yes, your thinking is exactly right - when you report a drop in income they won't backdate the extra in-year, they'll wait till the end of the year when the award is finalised. It was one of the changes a few years ago to try to reduce the overpayments problems in tax credits.

See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ntcmanual/payment_pot_ent/maintain_pot_ent_info.htm