overpayment of tax credits

bloodynora

hi
hubby was self-employed on good high income until 2010 when he became unemployed short-term. Called tax credits and received payments off them for a while until he resumed employment again. Then discovered we were only getting tax credits as they had on file his pay was £500 a MONTH rather than the £500 a WEEK he was getting so that was why we got paid the tax credits. So we were told we had an overpayment to pay back (approx £3000) so although nobody pursued us for this (yet) we are now in a situation where my husband lost his full-time job and is now on part-time hours earning only £1,250 a year. Yes that is £1,250 a year NOT £12,500 a year. I work part-time too and earn approx £6,500 a year. So we need to claim tax credits (I work 16 hours and he works 8) so my question is this.....will we actually get any tax credits off them seeing as we had an overpayment or will they deduct any money claimed now off the overpayment? Or will they let us claim as now we are sitting with hardly any income??
Help please!

paddedjohn

If he is indeed working 8 hrs a week then he should be earning a minimum of £2.5k, he would be better off signing on

bloodynora

doh!
any wonder i got an overpayment seeing as i can't even get the annual income right!

Icequeen99

If your earlier claim (with the overpayment) finished and ended, then you will need to make a new claim now.

They cannot recover your old overpayment from your new claim and so you will be asked to repay the overpayment directly.

IQ

kitkatt1982

Hi, what a horrible situation to be in! Yes Icequeen is right, they can't deduct overpayment off a new claim. Putting in a new claim would probably speed up the process of them asking for repayment but they will catch up with you at some point so best to do it on your terms rather than theirs! You can ask to pay back as little as £3 per week if you are on a low income. Although agree with earlier post, you may be entitled to more help, i.e. ESA for your husband, and tax credit eligibility depends on how many hours you work too. Play around with the benefits checker on here as you may be better off claiming ESA than your husband working afew hours - makes no sense I know but how it is! x

bloodynora

hi
ta for replies!
well hubby went to jobs and benefits office today and they have given him forms for income based jobseekers allowance although to be honest I think my 16 hours a week job rules us out from actually getting any money apart from tax credits. When we last got tax credits and then my husband took a smaller drop in income I called them to update change of circumstances and any money we would have got off them we were told would be deducted from money they had already paid us and so we didn't actually receive any as we still had this overpayment. So I am wondering that when I call them to say he has applied for income based JSA will the tax credit folk just say yeah you will get x amount of money and then send me a letter telling me that this money won't come to us anyway as they'll automatically deduct it from the overpayment which is still outstanding? Do I tell them I want to put in a new claim or how do i phrase it? Apologies for being so dim, this benefits and tax credits lark is all double dutch to me and I just can't get head around it! oh and another thing! He has had no work since early December so will they backdate any payments if they give us any or will it be from when claim is actually processed?

nannytone_2

i assume you have children?

after april, you wont be entitled to wtc anyway, as couples with children will be expected to work a minimum of 24 hours betweeen them, instead of the current 16/

hoo

nannytone wrote: »

i assume you have children?

after april, you wont be entitled to wtc anyway, as couples with children will be expected to work a minimum of 24 hours betweeen them, instead of the current 16/

16hrs p/w (wife) + 8hrs p/w (husband) = 24hrs.. couple??

bloodynora

hey
what way are tax credits changing in april? I am scared now! I have put forward my interest in more hours at work (along with the majority of my colleagues!) but there simply are not the positions in the place for full-time staff. Hubby is used to working full-time so to be only employed for 8 hours is soul-destroying for him as he feels worthless and downbeat about it all. Plus the lower income is a BIG problem at the minute but if tax credits are changing will we get anything at all? we have 2 kids btw.

ManicMum

Nannytone loves to stick the boot in.

It's all very well telling people they won't get WTC unless they work 24 hours but where are all these extra hours coming from? WIll just mean that the poor get poorer whilst the rich sit on their backsides and call them lazy. Easy to judge when you're not in other people's shoes.