claiming WTC as self-employed?

boschiba

hi, dont know if you can help me. I am self-employed, but my contract has been drastically reduced from Jan 2012.

I used to earn (pretax) anything from 1600 to 3000 a month - the 1600 was my basic, the rest was just extra jobs that came in.

From Jan, the basic will be 400 a month, and I have no idea what the extras could amount to - or even if there will be any, hard times and all that.

Do I tell WTC I am on the basic amount? and if so what happens if I have a good month or 2, or even more?

I've never claimed anything apart from Child Benefit, so am very unsure as to how to go about this... I did phone the WTC people, but they would only talk about the last 3 months figures, which in no way reflect the fall in income. Do I wait til Jan and phone them again? and if so, how long would it take for any payment to come from them?

thanks in advance for any advice!

salau2

Firstly, you must work a required number of hours to be entitled to Tax Credits. Generally this is be aged 16+ and be working 16 hours or more if you are responsible for a qualifying child or young person and 30+ hours if not. There are some exceptions i.e. if disabled or over 50 and just come off benefits. If you work the requisite number of hours then you must be on a low income. For self-employed people working time can include things such as Book-keeping and time spent advertising.

As you expect your Income to drop this year you can base your tax credit claim on your likely current year’s income. However, it is important to remember that a tax credit award is provisional (initially at least). If at the end of the tax year the income is different you could have an overpayment. You can back date tax credits 3 months so perhaps that is why they are asking you to wait to make sure your income will be low. You have 30 days to appeal. If you are a family you can contact Parents and Carers helpline on 0800 013 0313 alternatively contact your local CAB/welfare rights for a ‘what if’ benefit calculation.