Child tax credit limit reduced to £26,000

shedboy94

shop-to-drop wrote: »

Biscuit it would appear to me that the reason you will lose so much in one go is because you are being overpaid tax credits this year. I'm no expert but I'm sure you shouldn't be getting WTC on £35,000 a year and one child. With child benefit you get £200 benefits for one child did you ever consider this figure was much too generous especially given you have good salaries? You need to check the figures on last years award to see if they are correct, did your income more than double since last year? You should probably take the time to give them a ring to get this sorted so that you now where you stand.

I agree - there is no way you will be entitled to WTC of £81 a week - in fact with an income of £35k you are not entitled to any WTC at all.............this isn't aimed at yourself, but this is why people get o/p and then start a new thread moaning about being chased by HMRC for an o/p!!

In regards to the letters being misleading, it may be interpreted this way, but it is more likely a minority of people are being sent the letters in error because technically the info on the letter is correct - if it is sent to the correct person.

There is far too much confusion on this thread about entitlement/non-entitlement - a figure of £56k was given in regards to still being entitled to TC's - technically this is true if you have a few children and paying a lot in CCC - however, you wouldn't actually get any help towards CCC - you would only get the family element of just over £10pw.

A lot of people are, perhaps understandably, complaining about losing CTC, however there has to be a limit set somewhere - if it were set at £20k, those earning more would complain, if it were set at £30k, those earning over £30k would complain.

There has to be reform as the present system is unsustainable as there are circumstances where it pays better not to work.

The Tax Credit system is a joke and I am glad it is ending - there are things on it which make it unfair -

1. Why, if you are a single person can't you claim WTC until you are 25 - is the cost of living cheaper for a 24 yo than a 25 yo?
2. Why do you receive a substantially larger payment if you are disabled and working, or have disabled children - surely this is what DLA is paid for?
3. Why do you get more WTC if you are aged 50+ and returning to work, as opposed to being under 50?
4. The income disregards are terrible - effectively meaning 2 people earning exactly the same income will have vastly different incomes.

There are actually far too many things to mention......

MissMoneypenny

shedboy94 wrote: »

The Tax Credit system is a joke and I am glad it is ending - there are things on it which make it unfair -

1. Why, if you are a single person can't you claim WTC until you are 25 - is the cost of living cheaper for a 24 yo than a 25 yo?

We should adopt a benefits system like other EU countries have: no welfare until you have paid into the country for x number of years.

shedboy94 wrote: »

2. Why do you receive a substantially larger payment if you are disabled and working, or have disabled children - surely this is what DLA is paid for?

Judging from the number of e-petitions being started on this, I gather the government are stopping this double (and triple) claiming.

shedboy94 wrote: »

3. Why do you get more WTC if you are aged 50+ and returning to work, as opposed to being under 50?

That is stopping in April too.

shedboy94 wrote: »

4. The income disregards are terrible - effectively meaning 2 people earning exactly the same income will have vastly different incomes.

Much better to just give a low fixed amount (in tokens, not cash) to the parents and let them decide how many children they can raise on that amount. End that payment when the oldest child reaches 20. Then all parents will get the same help. Giving more money to people who have another child when they can 't even afford the ones they have, is a recipe for disaster.

shedboy94 wrote: »

There are actually far too many things to mention......

Agree. And we really should be looking at the cost of the huge number of people in the public sector, who have claimed to be too sick to work and receive a large monthly payment, even if they have only worked for the public sector for 5 years. I know this has been tightned now, but we are still paying out millions to people who clearly can still work and often are working; as well as receiving £1K+ a month in sick pension from the poor UK tax payer.

shedboy94

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

We should adopt a benefits system like other EU countries have: no welfare until you have paid into the country for x number of years.

There are people who have never paid anything - some born in the UK, some who have moved to the UK, but there is an element of age discrimination in the current system.

Judging from the number of e-petitions being started on this, I gather the government are stopping this double (and triple) claiming.

Good


That is stopping in April too.

Yes, but how much has already been paid out


Much better to just give a low fixed amount (in tokens, not cash) to the parents and let them decide how many children they can raise on that amount. Then all parents will get the same help.


Agree. And we really should be looking at the cost of the huge number of people in the public sector, who have claimed to be too sick to work and receive a large monthly payment. I know this has been tightned now, but we are still paying out millions to people who clearly can still work and often are working (as well as receiving £1+ a month in sick pension from the poor UK tax payer.

Not sure what you mean by this? I take it we have now moved on from benefits to public sector bashing?
Obviously public sector workers are not tax payers as well.......

zagfles

shedboy94 wrote: »

In regards to the letters being misleading, it may be interpreted this way, but it is more likely a minority of people are being sent the letters in error because technically the info on the letter is correct - if it is sent to the correct person.

I have the letter my friend got in front of me. It states:

For child tax credit the income limit is £26,000 for both single and joint households.

This is wrong. Not misleading, WRONG. Whoever it's sent to. Even if the couple did only have one child it's wrong because it doesn't state that the quoted limit only applies if you only have one child. Such a couple could be expecting a baby in the new tax year, their joint income could drop due to maternity leave and their entitlement would increase with the extra child element. But if they believe the letter then they could let their claim lapse if they think their income won't drop below £26k.

But it's not just people with one child, it's people with more than one plus childcare costs who are being told this.

It may only being sent to those who the HMRC computer, using a silly assumption of 4%+ pay rises, thinks won't be entitled next year. But as seen in this thread and the other one I started, several people who will have a significant entitlement next year are being given this wrong information. Which, if they had believed, would have caused them to miss out on tax credits to which they were entitled.

Moonface

I've got myself quite confused over all these changes and am not sure if we will continue to be eligible for CTC. I received the dreaded letter last week. If anyone could help I would be grateful.
My husband works 30 hrs per week
I work 18 hours per week
We have two children aged 10 and 13 and our household income is approx £33,100.
We do not have any childcare costs and receive no other benefits apart from the £40ish CTC and child benefit x2.
I am thinking that we may just dip out on the CTC but if anyone could confirm this it would be a help.

zagfles

Moonface wrote: »

I've got myself quite confused over all these changes and am not sure if we will continue to be eligible for CTC. I received the dreaded letter last week. If anyone could help I would be grateful.
My husband works 30 hrs per week
I work 18 hours per week
We have two children aged 10 and 13 and our household income is approx £33,100.
We do not have any childcare costs and receive no other benefits apart from the £40ish CTC and child benefit x2.
I am thinking that we may just dip out on the CTC but if anyone could confirm this it would be a help.

Yes you'll be just above the limit - but it might be an idea to keep the claim open just in case your income drops a bit, then you can just phone them rather than having to reclaim.

Heartbreaker

I'm afraid I am well out of touch with things as I do not recall the decisions made in a budget 3 years ago and I don't usually follow the news as it's usually so depressing and I don't know what facts are true or not. However, today I heard another parent at school talking about a letter she received and I am seriously worried.

I have 2 children and up until recently I had worked. I have worked for around 20 years full time prior to now before I got faced with redundancy. Just before I was made redundant I was very fortunate that I had family who was able to look after my children whilst I went to work (picking them up from school, dropping them off, looking after them if they got sick and looking after them during the school holidays). Unfortunately my family is no longer able to look after my children. I have applied to work at several supermarkets close to me but my applications have been rejected. There are no other businesses nearby that will suit my family needs. I do not have a car and the buses are not that regular so I cannot just hop on a bus and get to work at a reasonable time to do reasonable hours and get back in time to pick up my children from school. Childcare costs a lot of money and if I paid for that as well as paying for public transport I will be seriously out of pocket.

I am now helping out at the school in any way I can so that I can keep some skills going and so I can put something on my CV. I am hoping to do some studying in September so that I will be able to pursue a new career which fits around the children but just hope that I can afford it as our priority is our children and keeping our house.

My husband works very hard and brings home what he can although this barely pays the bills.

I am now really worried that a letter will end up on the doorstep or worried in case such a letter was accidentally put through someone elses door. We would really struggle as a family if we lost this benefit.

MissMoneypenny

It will depend on what your OH is earning Heartbreaker.

As you are a stay at home mother, you will need to keep an eye on the new Universal Credit, as it might affect you when tax credits are got rid of.

Heartbreaker

Thanks for your post. I don't know anything about Universal Credit despite browsing the internet. I might ask about this when I renew the tax credits in April. Thanks again.

biscuit1_2

shop-to-drop wrote: »

Biscuit it would appear to me that the reason you will lose so much in one go is because you are being overpaid tax credits this year. I'm no expert but I'm sure you shouldn't be getting WTC on £35,000 a year and one child. With child benefit you get £200 benefits for one child did you ever consider this figure was much too generous especially given you have good salaries? You need to check the figures on last years award to see if they are correct, did your income more than double since last year? You should probably take the time to give them a ring to get this sorted so that you know where you stand.

Sorted ...ahem ...!!! It would appear the £80 i was panicking about is ...ahem ....actually .....child benifit.Though it has brought somthing else to light (here we go again) .I went onto the tax credits web site and used the online calculator which kicked a figure of £67 out for us, we get £46.I realise this is just a guide and it does state this but are they usually that far out .