Tax credit renewal - general questions (merged)

wandafish_2

Hi! This is my first post as I've just joined so I hope I have posted in the right place, bear with me. I renewed back in May by phone estimating £5k profits from self-employment & received an award notice saying I had a potential payment due of £900. I don't know what this is & I haven't received it!! So, now I have my final figures & called up today to tell them my actual profits are only £3877. Does this mean that I will now receive slightly more per week in tc's with immediate effect? And will I receive a lump sum for the £900 this year or next year? Or is the £900 paid as additional weekly tc's? Very confused!!

Also, if anyone can advise me whether it is ever successful to write a letter of appeal to the TCO? Briefly, I completed SA for 2010/11 in Feb'12 as I had 3 months to do so from date of letter (late Nov'11). I was unaware that final figures had to be submitted by 31 Jan as my accountant never advised me. So my figures were submitted 2 weeks late and were for £2k profit although my award was based on £10k. TCO is saying there was no error there end, submission was late & they're not prepared to review it as it's finalised. A drop in income of £8k is substantial & I would like to appeal the decision. Has anyone ever had any success in having a finalised claim reviewed and monies paid out? Thanks in advance for any help gratefully received

harleysmummy

Hi

I recentley had to do a change of circumstances for my wtc as my partner moved in with me,
It has now been 5 weeks since i informed them and still no payments have been made.
I rang yesterday to see what was happening and they told me that my claim had gone to a specialist team

does any know what this means??

rachymoo

Just a quick (hopefully lol) question I hope someone can help with.

We recently sent in our tax credits renewal, my partner's income (self employed) was £0 as his business made a loss and my income was just over £9k, quite low as I was on maternity leave last year. My partner seems to think we'll be owed some money, we have been getting £86 per week (we both work 30+ hours per week and have two young children) but apparently based on that income we should have been getting the full amount? Does anyone know?

I an a born worrier and my main panic is a) they tell us we owe THEM money (is this likely?) or b) we do get a backpayment and then they later say we're not entitled and we have to pay it back...

Hmm71

I'm really worried I've done completely the wrong thing with my tax credit renewal this year. I was made redundant in May and I knew my tax credits were up for renewal so I thought I'd wait till I got the form before letting them know. My husband also put in a claim for Pension Credit so I thought it might be as well to wait till we had that sorted out before I sent the form off.

I didn't realise it would take DWP three months to sort out my husband's claim so I just had to send off the tax credit form before we'd heard from DWP, in order not to miss the deadline.

Now in the past whenever I've had a change of circs to report I've done what it said on the form - fill the form in, tell us any changes then post the form back. Usually when I've done that I've then had a letter back from tax credits saying "you said you had a change of circs, please tell us about it" despite the fact that I'd already told them.

So this year I thought I'd wait to hear from them first before I tell them my change of circs only I haven't yet heard from them and I sent my form off about four weeks ago. I tried phoning them but just got a message saying it's taking up to eight weeks to process renewals and not to phone them unless it's been more than eight weeks since you sent the form.

I know they can't backdate any changes for more than a month and it was my decision to wait to tell them but I'm just wondering whether they will backdate any changes at all if I have to wait two months for them to get in touch with me and should I be trying to ring them again now to tell them about my change of circs?

Sorry for the long post, just really worried that I've messed up my renewal this year and that I should have done it all straightaway instead of waiting for my husband's Pension Credit claim to be sorted out.

Do you think they would backdate my changes to a month before the date I signed my renewal form? :undecided

rockandglitter

Does any one know how long it takes for them to send an award notice? I read somewhere that as long as you renew by the 31st then they will still pay you.

I renewed about 5 weeks ago by post, not heard anything yet but I am aware that's pretty normal. I was just wondering about payments?


:j

GoodExample

Hmm71 wrote: »

I'm really worried I've done completely the wrong thing with my tax credit renewal this year. I was made redundant in May and I knew my tax credits were up for renewal so I thought I'd wait till I got the form before letting them know. My husband also put in a claim for Pension Credit so I thought it might be as well to wait till we had that sorted out before I sent the form off.

I didn't realise it would take DWP three months to sort out my husband's claim so I just had to send off the tax credit form before we'd heard from DWP, in order not to miss the deadline.

Now in the past whenever I've had a change of circs to report I've done what it said on the form - fill the form in, tell us any changes then post the form back. Usually when I've done that I've then had a letter back from tax credits saying "you said you had a change of circs, please tell us about it" despite the fact that I'd already told them.

So this year I thought I'd wait to hear from them first before I tell them my change of circs only I haven't yet heard from them and I sent my form off about four weeks ago. I tried phoning them but just got a message saying it's taking up to eight weeks to process renewals and not to phone them unless it's been more than eight weeks since you sent the form.

I know they can't backdate any changes for more than a month and it was my decision to wait to tell them but I'm just wondering whether they will backdate any changes at all if I have to wait two months for them to get in touch with me and should I be trying to ring them again now to tell them about my change of circs?

Sorry for the long post, just really worried that I've messed up my renewal this year and that I should have done it all straightaway instead of waiting for my husband's Pension Credit claim to be sorted out.

Do you think they would backdate my changes to a month before the date I signed my renewal form? :undecided

You need to notify TC of any change in circumstances by phone. It will only be backdated from the date you actually rang to make the change. If you still havent received your award notice following sending back your renewal forms by post, ring up, make the change to your employment status (with regards to your redundancy, you only need to declare any redundancy payout if its over £30k), ask if you can check on your renewal declaration status, and if the forms still havent been received then complete it over the phone - it literally takes 5 mins to renew by phone (not accounting for the time it takes to get through of course!). It maybe, that its just the state of circumstances that need to be confirmed.
With regards to the pension credit, as far as I am aware, this is declared in the same way as income based JSA/ESA - and the actual amount would not be taken into account when calculating your tax credits.
Hope this helps - Im a newbie on here :j

GoodExample

rockandglitter wrote: »

Does any one know how long it takes for them to send an award notice? I read somewhere that as long as you renew by the 31st then they will still pay you.

I renewed about 5 weeks ago by post, not heard anything yet but I am aware that's pretty normal. I was just wondering about payments?


:j

It can take 6 - 8 weeks, the closer to the deadline (31st July) you renewed, the longer it will take.

You are correct - if you have renewed then your payments will continue - you may receive a one off payment before any new regular payments start - this is quite normal practice, sit tight, im sure your award notice is coming.

There may be a reason to look a little further into your claim, for example, if you had a self employment but declared a nil income or a loss - especially if this is declared as an actual figure rather than an estimate when a majority of SE returns haven't been completed, so it may be well into september before you hear anything.

GoodExample

harleysmummy wrote: »

Hi

I recentley had to do a change of circumstances for my wtc as my partner moved in with me,
It has now been 5 weeks since i informed them and still no payments have been made.
I rang yesterday to see what was happening and they told me that my claim had gone to a specialist team

does any know what this means??

Im surprised a TC advisor has disclosed that the claim has been passed to a specialist team! Maybe, they should have explained a little better - when you change from a joint to a single claim, this isnt classed as a normal "change of circumstance" , it is dealt with as a "new" joint claim, and your old single claim will be ceased. Nothing to worry about at all, basically, not the renewals/change of circs teams that deal with it.

Hmm71

GoodExample wrote: »

You need to notify TC of any change in circumstances by phone. It will only be backdated from the date you actually rang to make the change. If you still havent received your award notice following sending back your renewal forms by post, ring up, make the change to your employment status (with regards to your redundancy, you only need to declare any redundancy payout if its over £30k), ask if you can check on your renewal declaration status, and if the forms still havent been received then complete it over the phone - it literally takes 5 mins to renew by phone (not accounting for the time it takes to get through of course!). It maybe, that its just the state of circumstances that need to be confirmed.
With regards to the pension credit, as far as I am aware, this is declared in the same way as income based JSA/ESA - and the actual amount would not be taken into account when calculating your tax credits.
Hope this helps - Im a newbie on here :j

Thank you goodexample, I'll try phoning them again tomorrow. I'll tell them the changes if I can get through to anyone!

rainbowfairydust

sorry posted in wrong thread