bit confused

stassy23

hi i renewed my tax credits over the phone last week we were on income based jobseekers all last year until the 3rd of april when my partner started work gave them an estimated income for this year what im confused about i got my tax credits yest as usual and just checked my online banking and i got more today im confused to why i have im not touching it coz you know what their like they will want it back. anyone else the same?

AnxiousMum

Whenever you make an amendment to a TC claim, the system kicks out an 'adjustment' payment prior to your regular payments being set up. You should receive your renewal notice shortly, and this will have your payments all recorded on it. It may be an adjustment payment from the previous year as well if you were able to give final figures.

stassy23

ah i see thank you for replying

zagfles

Your child tax credits may well be higher - what was your income estimate for this year?

If it was below £26k then CTC will be higher, because the CTC rates have gone up, and you get max CTC on income below £16k, and there's a £10k disregard for income increases! And you'll probably get WTC as well.

stassy23

estimated income for this year is 12700 its only my partner working just above min wage, last year we were on income base jobseekers for the whole of the tax year,

thank you for replying

stassy23

sorry what does 10k disregard mean? it all confuses me lol

zagfles

stassy23 wrote: »

estimated income for this year is 12700 its only my partner working just above min wage, last year we were on income base jobseekers for the whole of the tax year,

thank you for replying

Yes you'll get max CTC, which has gone up about £5pw per child this year. Also max WTC about £89pw if your partner works >30 hours, though this will go down from April next year.

zagfles

stassy23 wrote: »

sorry what does 10k disregard mean? it all confuses me lol

Your tax credits are initially based on previous year's income but are then adjusted depending on current year income.

But if your income goes up by less than the disregard it isn't adjusted, so you still get the higher amount dispite your income increasing. If it goes up by more the disregard of £10k then the first £10k increase is ignored.

Eg £5k last year, £13k this year, this year's award is based on the £5k income.

But then next year tax credits will drop as they'll use £13k as the starting point.

stassy23

thank you for clarifying all that it makes sense now.