How have Tax Credits been for you?

Spendless

I agree with the comment re the family element. Assuming all kids are over one, no disabilities in family and no child care costs you can be on £25,000 with 3 kids or £45,000 with one child but you still get the same money.

The adding on the benefits in kind drives me nuts too. We have a lower net income due to the tax on our company car than someone on the same salary but then i have to add it on as income as well!

As another member recently pointed out a one income earner family on £20,000 has a lower net pay than a two income family on £10,000 each due to both tax allowances being used, but assuming the same amount of kids etc they will receive the same in tax credits.

Also maintainance payments aren't taken into account for tax credit purposes. I know someone who when you total up her net income (including maintainance) has exactly the same money as we do coming in, but she is entitled to free perscriptions and 70% off childcare, something we don't get but we live on the same money.

When it comes to the baby element(the extra £545 for the 1st year of babys life) you only get this amount per birth, it is not doubled in the event of twins or trebled for triplets.

I rang up and queried about any help with childcare costs when i considered going back to work as did my sister when the twins went to nursery. We both are on the £545p.a.

I got told" not on your level of income"
my sister got told "no cos you earn above £25,000. "

It is only very recently i discovered that this is incorrect (thanks to our member irs ; - ) ), and also messing about with amounts on the entitled to site.

You have to be incurring childcare over a certain amount and you then get an increased CTC.

I recently told a friend who'd just had her third child to ring up and add him to her claim for the extra £545 (baby element). She got told over the phone that
she wouldn't receive any extra. Next thing she has something thru the post with the baby element added on.

Fran

Anyone else fancy voting?

lucym

Spendless wrote:

I agree with the comment re the family element. Assuming all kids are over one, no disabilities in family and no child care costs you can be on £25,000 with 3 kids or £45,000 with one child but you still get the same money.

I am a bit confused. I realise that a family earning a bit more than £13000 are not entitled to WTC but as far as I can work out (by checking on the IR calculator and the Entitled To calculator) the family on £25,000 would get more than the family on £45,000. Please explain why you think that they would get the same - I am worried about going back to work now because my earnings would take us over £25,000 but not by nearly enough to cover what we would lose in CTC if you are correct.

Lucy

Fran

I think Spendless is referring to the "family element", which is part of the calculation and always remains the same. Probably what you've looked at on "Entitled To" calculator is nearer, but always get it checked for instance with your Citizens Advice Bureau or similar to make sure you have the correct amounts.

fairenoughclough

lucym wrote:

I am a bit confused. I realise that a family earning a bit more than £13000 are not entitled to WTC but as far as I can work out (by checking on the IR calculator and the Entitled To calculator) the family on £25,000 would get more than the family on £45,000. Please explain why you think that they would get the same - I am worried about going back to work now because my earnings would take us over £25,000 but not by nearly enough to cover what we would lose in CTC if you are correct.

Lucy

Family with two children would be entitled to:-

less than the family element of Child Tax Credit if your income is under £58,209 but over £50,000;
the family element of Child Tax Credit if your income is under £50,000 but over £24,031;
the family and child elements of Child Tax Credit (and potentially Working Tax Credit) if your income is under £24,031


Hope this clears it up

jellyhead

hi, i'm not sure how a high childcare bill would affect this, i'm only talking about my own experience. with an income of just under 25 the only money we get off tax credits is the £545 per year, nothing else, no help with childcare.

i've just had a look on entitledto and it says you can only get help with childcare if you both work at least 16 hours per week, so that would exclude me anyway because i don't work 16 hours a week.

i've played around with different figures on entitled to and as spendless says the amount you're entitled to will rise if the childcare bill is high. 16 hours per week would probably mean a childcare bill of £54 per week (assuming an extra 2 hours childcare while travelling to and from work, and childcare at £3 per hour, that's what my sister pays, also assuming you only have one child). with a £54 per week childcare bill it says you may get help if your earnings are below 24,943 but then when i put in an income of 24000 for the year it says "You do not qualify for Working Tax Credit and so are not eligible for help with childcare costs" but it gives me child tax credits of 896, that's more than the £545 i'm currently getting, around £7 per week. obviously different childcare bills and different earnings will affect the figures somewhat. what does it tell you for what your income will be lucy, with what your childcare bill will be?

jellyhead

entitledto doesn't seem to include the baby element for me. i looked here http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/pdfs/wtc2.htm#b there's a family element (£545 per year on an income of 25 thousand), a baby addition then various other elements such as child element etc.

a stay at home mother whose partner earns more than 24031 will only be entitled to the family element plus any relevant baby or disabled elements, but a family where both parents work at least 16 hours per week and there's a childcare bill will maybe be entitled to more than that.

lucym

Fran wrote:

I think Spendless is referring to the "family element", which is part of the calculation and always remains the same. Probably what you've looked at on "Entitled To" calculator is nearer, but always get it checked for instance with your Citizens Advice Bureau or similar to make sure you have the correct amounts.

Thanks Fran. I thought that Spendless meant that families earning more than £25,000 were not entitled to the 'child element'.

Spendless

Hi - sorry Lucy

I had a mess with the entitled to site and assuming 2 kids no childcare,no baby under 1, no disabilities the family on £25.000 get the same as the family on £45,000 ie the £547.50 p.a which is called the family element.This is what i meant.

lucym

jellyhead wrote:

hi, i'm not sure how a high childcare bill would affect this, i'm only talking about my own experience. with an income of just under 25 the only money we get off tax credits is the £545 per year, nothing else, no help with childcare.

i've just had a look on entitledto and it says you can only get help with childcare if you both work at least 16 hours per week, so that would exclude me anyway because i don't work 16 hours a week.

i've played around with different figures on entitled to and as spendless says the amount you're entitled to will rise if the childcare bill is high. 16 hours per week would probably mean a childcare bill of £54 per week (assuming an extra 2 hours childcare while travelling to and from work, and childcare at £3 per hour, that's what my sister pays, also assuming you only have one child). with a £54 per week childcare bill it says you may get help if your earnings are below 24,943 but then when i put in an income of 24000 for the year it says "You do not qualify for Working Tax Credit and so are not eligible for help with childcare costs" but it gives me child tax credits of 896, that's more than the £545 i'm currently getting, around £7 per week. obviously different childcare bills and different earnings will affect the figures somewhat. what does it tell you for what your income will be lucy, with what your childcare bill will be?

As far as I can work out we will still be entitled to some CTC until we earn more than £33,000 (We have four children). We will not be paying childcare because I will only work during school hours.

I tried playing around with the figures to included childcare and got the same results as you. I am guessing that they just lump any childcare payements in with the CTC.

Lucy