Working Tax Credit - Backpayment

cadenza82

I recently applied for Working Tax Credit and was told I was due about £52 a week. I also asked them to backdate it as they said this was possible. I haven't heard anything, but today £850 appeared in my bank account from them.

Now, I'm a bit worried because this seems a huge amount - it could be a backdated payment, but that would make it backdated about 4 months. Presumably at some point I will get some paperwork through which will indicate how they have calculated this, so I suppose I should wait until then.

At the moment, it's an enormous relief to have the extra money, but I know so many people who've been overpaid and the Inland Revenue have made a complete mess of it.

Am I worrying unduly?

Russe11

Sounds right to me, standard working week(approx 35hours) on min wage would mean tax credits of around £50 a week.

HMRC are a mess when it comes to these things, I have conflicting, duplicated paperwork from them. You just have to save the paperwork should anyproblems arise.

Kalia

It can be backdated 3 months from the date of application. So it looks like you have the 3 months backdate plus first month from applying.

RazWaz

I got 4 months backdated (over £2000 as I had the disability element) so it sounds about right. I was told I would have the backdated payment about a week before any paperwork.

SusanMum

I've always had my paperwork about a week after my payments when I've had a change or a one-off payment. If you are nervous about it being an overpayment, you could wait till you get the letter to put your mind at rest?

JencParker

Is is possible to get a back payment? I have recently been awarded wtc and it has only been applied from the date they received my application. I wasn't aware it could be backdated - is it too late to apply?

allen35

JencParker wrote: »

Is is possible to get a back payment? I have recently been awarded wtc and it has only been applied from the date they received my application. I wasn't aware it could be backdated - is it too late to apply?

You can request backdated benefit if you were entitled to it in the 3 months before you applied.

bebewoo

Despite what the above posters say, you must ring them to confirm.
This happened to me, received a payment, although in my case I received a payment every month (not a lot) and I assumed all was well.
Two years later they told me they had miscalculated, and I had to pay a lot of it back. My appeal was overturned on the basis that I should have known that they were overpaying me (even though it was the tax office who had miscalculated it).
They said that I should have rung them to confirm that what they were paying me was correct, even though all of the forms they sent back to me gave the correct income on them, and I had sent returns to them with the correct income on them, and had even rung them up to tell them the correct income, apparently I was supposed to ring them when I received the money each month and ask "are you really really sure you have worked this all out correctly?".
It was only a small amount that they had overpaid me each month, but after 2 years it added up to over £700 I had to pay back.
So ring them, and insist that they make a note on the file that you have rung them to confirm that they have the correct details and that they have paid you the correct amount.

bebewoo

(i'm a bit bitter about it)