Caught out with council tax benefit

wovonb

So last year we applied for CTB for the first time in a while. The paper work is such a faff we have just struggled on without it but we currently need all the help we can get. We are both self-employed, two children under 10, getting tax credits etc. Well, last years CTB was based on earnings 2010-11 and 2011-2012 it turns out we earned just over £2000 more. Well not only has this year's CTB been recalculated but last year's too so that we have been counted as being overpaid benefit for that year and now we are actually paying more each month than we would be if we got no benefit at all. I thought it would work like tax credits, that it is always based on the year before. I don't want more than we are entitled too but we are now in more financial difficulty than if I had never claimed and I am not sure how we are going to manage

Notmyrealname

No, CTB is based on CURRENT income. I'm surprised your local council looks at it on an annual basis for S/E. Here its reviewed every 3 months.

wovonb

Well, that would have been helpful.

grummps

CTB??? If you can ever avoid claiming it don't!!

You would think that they are running the whole DWP/HMRC budget.

Claiming any other benefit is easy compared to CTB - they lose paperwork, they want the same documents two/three times over.

I found myself on the wrong side of that bunch of loonies once.

They don't seem to understand anything that is not in their handbook.

As everyone knows, those that are self assessed for tax purposes, pay their tax on the 31st January for the previous years income. i.e. the tax due on income earned 6/4/10 to 5/4/11 is payable on the 31/1/12.

Now CTB is based on income arising in the period of claim, you want to try getting them to understand that there should be a reduction on that income for tax paid.

They use the gross income, but give no credit for the tax paid as " it is more than 13 months since the start of the relevant year". I have yet to convince them that whilst the claim for the deduction maybe out of time, it isn't my fault - it is just how HMRC work things out!

All of my CTB claims are therefore based on gross income, not net income as it would be for those that pay tax under PAYE.

Last year alone, I paid £743 in Jan 2012 for which I have not been given credit for.