tax credits - forgot to tell of change in earnings

badgers

paulineb wrote: »

They do assess tax credits on the basis of the previous tax year, so if you had low earnings the year before last you would still qualify as far as I know for tax credits last year. I just claimed for tax credits at the beginning of Feb 2013 and they wanted to know what my earnings were for the tax year ending April 12.

This is what I thought. But it is wrong. They assess you for TC based on the year before, but if that is just an 'rough estimate'. If your income is large, even tho last year was bad, then u r not entitled... I now have a bill for nearly £3K and no they have not offered a repayment method. I have 3 months

I still am grateful for the several years of TCs we did get, but jees they are complicated, and we didn't claim for the first year we were entitled: because we thought that because our previous year was high income then we wouldn't qualify for the present year that was poor income... mistake

Icequeen99

badgers wrote: »

This is what I thought. But it is wrong. They assess you for TC based on the year before, but if that is just an 'rough estimate'. If your income is large, even tho last year was bad, then u r not entitled... I now have a bill for nearly £3K and no they have not offered a repayment method. I have 3 months

I still am grateful for the several years of TCs we did get, but jees they are complicated, and we didn't claim for the first year we were entitled: because we thought that because our previous year was high income then we wouldn't qualify for the present year that was poor income... mistake

They will offer you a repayment plan, don't let them bully you. When you get the demand letter contact the number on it and make a monthly repayment offer. Their guidance on what they will accept is here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/how-hmrc-handle-txcr-opay.pdf

IQ

Dovah_diva

People always 'forget' to phone when their income goes up, but never when it comes down. Funny that...

badgers

Dovah_diva wrote: »

People always 'forget' to phone when their income goes up, but never when it comes down. Funny that...

Bit nasty... why would u think it wasn't human nature for people living on the edge of what they can afford to be reticent in giving up a modest improvement in income?

MPs have had to rent homes instead of having mortgages paid by the taxpayer. So now they buy them and rent them to themselves/each other, as you say: funny that :rotfl:.

We assumed (and I guess others do to) that the earnings from the year before are the qualifier, not the instantaneous earnings. But it isn't, the year before is just an indicator of what you will get. This and lots of other aspect of TCs is not obvious. Like whether students with families are entitled... TC people said no, but student union said yes... not straight forward at all

We didn't claim for one year we were entitled to (the first one) so that money is lost to us. We did claim for nearly a year that we weren't entitled to (the last) and that money is being clawed back, because the that's the way it is, unfair, but perfectly correct technically.

badgers

Icequeen99 wrote: »

They will offer you a repayment plan, don't let them bully you. When you get the demand letter contact the number on it and make a monthly repayment offer. Their guidance on what they will accept is here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/how-hmrc-handle-txcr-opay.pdf

IQ

I will try and build up courage to tackle them on this, cheers

harrys_dad

If you go to CAB they have a special number for Tax Credits Helpline that can only be used by organisations. It is staffed by the most helpful and informed people. Work out what you can afford to pay, then take all your paperwork to CAB and see if they will ring for you. You can authorise them to speak on your behalf.