Can I refuse Working Tax credit?

mustang67_2

Hi all, I'm pretty new to forums so bear with me and sorry in advance if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

Basically can anyone tell me if it's possible to refuse Working Tax Credits? The reason I ask is that the amount we receive (98p per week) is probably making us worse off as we are unable to claim free school dinners for one of our children. We do receive Child Tax Credits for our 3 children and my partner works 22.5 hours a week, I'm on the higher (Contribution Based) ESA (Employment & Support Allowance) as I have health issues, but we feel we would be better off if we didn't receive the WTC. Would I be right in thinking we could then claim free school dinners for the children?

To add insult to injury we also no longer qualify for an NHS exemption certificate from the end of June due to the government lowing the qualifying maximum household income. I believe it was approx £17,700 but has since been reduced to around £15,300. Our total taxable income is £15,700. Due to my health conditions the Exemption certificate was a godsend and my partner also suffers with asthma and hay-fever. So now having to pay for prescriptions is an even bigger financial hardship.:mad: I appreciate we're all having to make cuts but if anyone can offer any advice I'd be extreamely grateful.:j

Many thanks in advance!

DaisyFlower

You can get a pre paid prescription cheaply to cover those costs so worth looking into.

Perhaps your OH can look at upping their hours as 22.5 isnt very much to support two adults and three children especially as one parent is home to do the childcare.

viktory

Agree with the above. I have a pre payment cert, costs me a shade over £10 a month. I would think you can refuse to claim any benefit, WTC included but also think your partner should consider upping her hours.

seven-day-weekend

No, I don't think you can rrefuse Tax Credits and even if you could they would probably be classed as notional income in any means-testing, as you are entitled to them.

DX2

How the heck can someone only get 98p a week? Would you be paying back an overpayment by any chance?

Income £15,700, 3 kids and only getting 98p tax credits something wrong there!

merlin68

Also any ammount of tax credit would entitle you to the health costs, don't understand that one.

zagfles

mustang67 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm pretty new to forums so bear with me and sorry in advance if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

Basically can anyone tell me if it's possible to refuse Working Tax Credits? The reason I ask is that the amount we receive (98p per week) is probably making us worse off as we are unable to claim free school dinners for one of our children. We do receive Child Tax Credits for our 3 children and my partner works 22.5 hours a week, I'm on the higher (Contribution Based) ESA (Employment & Support Allowance) as I have health issues, but we feel we would be better off if we didn't receive the WTC. Would I be right in thinking we could then claim free school dinners for the children?

To add insult to injury we also no longer qualify for an NHS exemption certificate from the end of June due to the government lowing the qualifying maximum household income. I believe it was approx £17,700 but has since been reduced to around £15,300. Our total taxable income is £15,700. Due to my health conditions the Exemption certificate was a godsend and my partner also suffers with asthma and hay-fever. So now having to pay for prescriptions is an even bigger financial hardship.:mad: I appreciate we're all having to make cuts but if anyone can offer any advice I'd be extreamely grateful.:j

Many thanks in advance!

Yes, it's one of the cracks in the tax credits system. You would be better off if you earned the same money but only worked 15 hours for it! It's a stupid rule as WTC is meant to support the adults yet it disqualifis the children from free school meals.

I don't think there's any way of refusing WTC but still getting CTC as they are claimed together - if you work 16+ hours you'll get WTC.

Not sure where you get the free prescription threshold being cut - it's £15276 and has never been cut, though it was frozen for several years, see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/tcmanual/TCM0202060.htm

zagfles

DX2 wrote: »

How the heck can someone only get 98p a week? Would you be paying back an overpayment by any chance?

Income £15,700, 3 kids and only getting 98p tax credits something wrong there!

The OP was talking about WTC specifically. They'll get full CTC as well.

It sounds about right - they're very close to the WTC threshold for a couple without the 30h element.

DX2

merlin68 wrote: »

Also any ammount of tax credit would entitle you to the health costs, don't understand that one.

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/HealthCosts/Tax_Credits_flowchart.pdf

The flow chart above in the link explains. If you have more than £15,276 annual income for WTC/CTC you don't get an exemption.

DX2

zagfles wrote: »

The OP was talking about WTC specifically. They'll get full CTC as well.

It sounds about right - they're very close to the WTC threshold for a couple without the 30h element.

So £15,700 income, plus CTC for 3 kids, plus CB for 3 kids, plus the 98p WTC per week.

mustang67_2

Hello all. Firstly a big "Thank you" to all who posted replies it's very much appreciated!

A couple of you say that the qualifying threshold for the NHS exemption certificate has never been cut but we have been issued one for the last 2 years and our household income hasn't changed. If anything it has gone down. When I recently telephoned the Tax Credits helpline they informed me that the Government changed the threshold therefore we no longer qualify.

If my OH were able increase her hours wouldn't most of the extra income simply be cancelled out as Tax Credits would be reduced? But to be honest if I were at home on my own for any longer I would struggle to cope due to my health issues.

I'm aware we can buy a pre paid prescription but wouldn't we need one each? The NHS exemption certificate also enabled us to claim travel and parking costs for hospital and physiotherapy appointments, of which there are many.

Just to confirm we do receive CTC for all 3 children on top of the 98p WTC.

Thanks again to you all for the help and advice.