Tax Credits Before and After Marriage

Parklife63

Sorry if parts of this post seem repetitive.

As it is a near impossible task to get someone on the other end of the tax credits phone, before I try then again tomorrow just wondered if anyone knows an answer to this?

My (now wife) was claiming child tax credits for her Son when before we married.

In May we informed them that we had married and as I was working we wanted to put a claim in (in my name) and her now married name as a joint couple so they sent us the new forms and we made a claim which we were awarded working tax and child tax credits.

(Remember we informed them we had married and they said her claim was now no longer operational), as it was now my(our) claim.

Anyway after that she received a renew your tax credits pack (in her maiden name) and ever since and even 10 minutes ago tax credits have been texting her to fill in her renewal pack or her payments will stop.

She has not been receiving any payments under her maiden name as she does not have a claim in as we informed them we had married and we put in a new claim in my name and her new married name.

What concerns me is obviously her NI number appears on her old claim and my(our claim) so is she still in the system as an old claim? and as she has not filled in the renew your tax credits form (why should she as she is not claiming)!!!they may use her NI number and stop the child tax payment she was originally claiming (which she isn't) as it my claim, from my claim?

Hope someone understands what I am trying to say as why are they texting her (maiden name) saying her payments will stop when they were informed we married and they sent the new forms out for us to make a joint claim (married name).

Thanks for any replies as always.

nannytone_2

she has been asked to renew in order to finalise last years award ( 2013/14) for any part of that time she had a single claim.
if she doesnt renew then ALL tax credits paid to her during this time will be classed as an overpayment and will need to be paid back

Cornish_piskie

Nanntone is correct - the renew is actually a confirmation that all details for the previous year of claim were correct (reason being of course that people's circumstances could have changed part way through the year or given an estimated income if self-employed etc) She MUST do this otherwise they will claw back the previous 12 months of payments.

Did you only start living together after the marriage?

Icequeen99

nannytone wrote: »

she has been asked to renew in order to finalise last years award ( 2013/14) for any part of that time she had a single claim.
if she doesnt renew then ALL tax credits paid to her during this time will be classed as an overpayment and will need to be paid back

That isn't correct. As BB says, if you fail to renew it is only current year tax credits that become overpaid.

The worst case here is that HMRC will finalise based on the information held on the system. But as BB points out that may be wrong and lead to an over/underpayment and potential penalties.

IQ

Parklife63

Thanks for the replies but I still don't understand why it is a renewal notice when she isn't renewing and they sent us a new claim form for the new claim when we informed them that we were married. They were also made aware of the date we moved in together before we were married. The issues with the phone though is when you speak to the automated voice it always directs us to elsewhere and we find it difficult saying the right thing to actually get to speak to someone. Anyone any idea when the automated woman asks what we want what we should say as if you just say "tax Credits" they tell you how to claim or renew then the line goes dead.

Icequeen99

Parklife63 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies but I still don't understand why it is a renewal notice when she isn't renewing and they sent us a new claim form for the new claim when we informed them that we were married. They were also made aware of the date we moved in together before we were married. The issues with the phone though is when you speak to the automated voice it always directs us to elsewhere and we find it difficult saying the right thing to actually get to speak to someone. Anyone any idea when the automated woman asks what we want what we should say as if you just say "tax Credits" they tell you how to claim or renew then the line goes dead.

HMRC use the term renew as it applies to the majority of people. The forms are called a 'renewal pack' but is actually an annual declaration.

It is just the way they chose to describe things. Not everyone actually needs to renew, some people (like your wife) need to just finalise the previous claim.

The main message is that if you receive forms, you need to complete them.

You still have time, so just provide the 13/14 income figure and it should all be sorted.

Your joint claim should run from the date you moved in together if that was before the date you married.

IQ

amiehall

It's called a renewal, but that's just it's name, forget about that. She really should do it... I would say "report income" to the computer. I find it hard to believe that you've been cut of in the last few days by the IVR as the queue is not long and lines have been very quiet. Are you definitely ringing the tax credits number?

Parklife63

Yes defo the tax credits number and off to do so now. Will post to let people know what happens!

Parklife63

Ok to hopefully finalise.
Spoke to a bloke at tax credits and he said our payments were all set up till next year and NO NEED to complete form as it should not have been issued in the 1st place.
BUT!
he then said he would transfer us to another department "just to double check"
AND
Loh and behold my wife DID have to complete the form so it was a good job we double checked!
Anyway now they have the info for her income "before Marriage 12-13 and we will just wait to see if she was underpaid, overpaid, or they got it right.
Thanks to everyone that replied to this post.
I will update the child benefit/child tax credits Big Discrepency post when I finally get an answer from child benefit. Claim under review !!!!!

Icequeen99

Just to add, you may already know this, but when you fill in the form you need to include her income for the whole of the tax year - not just the period when she was single.

HMRC will then do the apportioning based on the number of days in the claim.

Similarly when you give figures for a new joint claim, you give figures for the whole tax year (not just the period when you got together).

IQ

Parklife63

Yes Icequeen99. Gave them full figures 2012/2013 and 2013/2014. We completed it over the phone yesterday. They said her closing statement should be with us in 8 weeks and this years TC's are set up and payments due weekly to 2015.