Child tax credit limit reduced to £26,000

MUMBO

Double_Dip wrote: »

E-PETITION

Wonder whether e-petition would go any good?
According to Government website

epetitions.direct.gov.uk

"e-petitions is an easy way for you to influence government policy in the UK. You can create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons."

There are several petitions already re Child Tax Credit, but none specific to this issue.

Anyone interested in signing? if so, I'll put pen to paper.

Count me in.

ktj

Hi, I'll sign too!

zagfles

This thread's in danger of confusing 2 issues...

If you have more than 1 child then HMRC are giving blatently incorrect information by telling you the income limit is £26,000. This is not a question of policy, so an e-petition isn't the way to complain about this, it's a screw-up by HMRC. In the other thread I have suggested people contact their MP about this - you can find your MP here: http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

If you only have one child and no childcare or disabilities, then HMRC are correct that your income limit is £26,000 from April - (but even then they should make clear that the limit will be higher if you have another child or if you start needing childcare). So if you disagree with this then sign the e-petition.

bramblejam

The letter's badly written but a quick look online comes up with this:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/TaxCredits/DG_194914
which is clearer.

I think what stick in the craw is the wailing and gnashing of teeth when this affected higher rate taxpayers (journalists etc) but there's been nothing in the press about this.

When they say "we're all in it together" they just mean us ordinary people, don't they?

gillybean129

atskg wrote: »

Hey gillybean129 i also got my letter today, we both work fulltime and have 3 kids, we loose child tax credits and wont get help with childcare costs now. theres gonna be an awful lot of families struggling after April, and it is nice to give each other support. Good luck. :j

Hi there, I am sure you will be OK with 3 kids, it's just those with 1 that are affected at the £26K. Did you call them and how did you get on?

When I phoned they said nothing about keeping the claim open and it was I that said well should I call if I have any changes and does it alter the fact that my child will still be staying on in education after 16 and they didn't know! It's so frustrating!

MissMoneypenny

zagfles wrote: »

As an example, if your childcare costs are £200pw, your income limit will be over £56,000, not £26,000 !!

:eek::eek:Parents with an income over 56k can still claim welfare!:eek:

shop-to-drop wrote: »

What would be much fairer and make families more self supporting would be if tax codes were increased with each dependent a tax payer has.

But have that tax code set at a limit for 2 children.Any more children then they will have to budget for them and work more hours.

There are too many people having children they can't (won't?) keep themselves.

E-petitions: The welfare boards and immigration boards are full of posts from people setting up e-petitions because of the new welfare and immigration laws.

Murgatroyd21

Anyone who gets a letter should consider their current and expected future circumstances. In effect, the system has highlighted the case as likely to have no entitlement in the future year based on the information held. If the information is wrong you should get it updated asap. One of the future changes is also a restriction on backdating to a maximum of 1 month rather than the current 3 months (there are exceptions such as disability, but this is intended as in the main). Too, you have to reply by the 31st March if you decide to look to keep the claim open.

People need to consider why this is being done, and if you think it reduces a number of letters and forms to be issued unnecessarily, that in turn saves costs, effectively the taxpayer saves. There is nothing to stop anyone whose circumstances change in the future re-applying as necessary, but by having an unneeded claim being administered, everyone pays that cost.

One thing those who currently get a disability element of tax credits may want to consider though, is that by keeping the claim open even with no entitlement, any future change resulting in entitlement returning means the disability element is still on the claim. If you end the claim and don't receive any other qualifying disability benefits, the disability element won't be added back on. (Can be dependant on time scales between a claim ending and a new claim being submitted).

One last thing people should be aware of is the intention to disregard the first £2500 of any declared reduction in income in the coming year, irrespective of how it is caused, i.e. maternity leave, long term illness etc. It means that if you are on a low income already and have a child, they won't re-calculate your entitlement using the new expected income. The first £2500 reported income will not be taken in to account. E.G. you have a household income of £17000, have a child and report your new figure due to maternity is £13000. Your income will be calculated as £14500 instead, leading to about £20pw reduction in tax credit payments (negates Child Benefit payments in effect).

Hope this make sense, and sorry about the length of the post. I'm not advocating any specific course of action, i.e. whether to keep a claim open or not, but I think it is important that people have as much information as they can to make an informed decision.

melly1980

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

:eek::eek:Parents with an income over 56k can still claim welfare!:eek.

yes, if you look at the example parents who are paying 4K per month to childcare. Think of it this was, a 56K salary wouldnt give you 4K a month, therefore without those childcare payments the person wouldnt be able to work. You would then take a person out of work who is earning good money, paying far more tax in than they are taking out etc etc.

Thats why its currently done on a case by case basis. One of the very good things about the current system is the provision of childcare. Its shafted me because we dont qualify and its bumped up childcare costs to make working unaffordable for my missus, but all in all it has to be seen as a good thing to enable people to work.

MissMoneypenny

melly1980 wrote: »

yes, if you look at the example parents who are paying 4K per month to childcare. Think of it this was, a 56K salary wouldnt give you 4K a month, therefore without those childcare payments the person wouldnt be able to work.

:eek:It get worse. So in the example you gave above, those parents' get welfare because they need 4k a month for childcare for all their children, but they don't even clear that much per month from their wages. In other words, they are having children that they can't keep unless the welfare state helps them? They can't provide for them if they work and they can't provide for them if they don't work.

Why not just have 2 children, then they could pay for their own children without the need to ask welfare for help?

I can see now why there are calls to limit the number of children the welfare state will help with and why the income tax received by government, doesn't cover the welfare bill anymore. Add to that the cost of education and healthcare for these families that also need child tax credits and I can see why these welfare reforms have to be made.

[Deleted User]

Nobody gets 4k a month for childcare tax credits! The m!ximum is £300 per week.