Housing Benefit, Overpayment, Overtime, Tax Code Change

effortless

Hey folks,

I'll try and be as brief as possible.

- Had previous HB overpayment of £2k which I knocked down to £600 over a couple of years
- Got part time job some time ago, getting around £400pm
- Claimed HB & CT Benefit, no problems

Now..

- Realised I was on the wrong tax code, now corrected, which will give me £500pm plus a backpayment
- Done lots of overtime recently (apparently some people here call it extra hours, it's double my normal 20 hours anyway)
- Looking at wages this month of being just over £700 (+ maybe the backpayment)


I will of course be handing my payslip straight over as soon as it's in my hands (I've given them every previous payslip since I started), but does this mean...

- Due to tax code change council will backdate and recover payments as I should have got more on the right code?
- Benefit gets suspended (too many hours?)
- Council will attempt to claim a large chunk back from my backpayment for the overpayment to them?

Technically my contracted hours will still qualify me for the benefit.

Just curious as to what's going to happen, especially if they see I'm getting paid £1200 including the backpayment, I of course have a lot of other things to pay for, and don't want them getting their hands on all my excess income.


Any help appreciated

fluffymovie

If you know you are earning more than they think you are, I'd ring and ask the. To suspend your claim immediately rather than wait for a payslip.

Not quite understanding why council would recalculate? Were you on a higher tax code than you should have been? If so, the. Your rebate will be disregarded but I don't think they'll go back over time but I don't know of any specific regs on this.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Our office procedure is to ignore the tax refund but take into account overtime.

allen35

Your claim for HB will be recalc'd based on your current income and an average over 2 months pay will be used.

If your income increases or decreases it is your responsibility to inform them.

Your tax rebate may well be treated as capital and not income for the relevant month.

Check your new award and query if the tax rebate is used as income for the calc'.

effortless

fluffymovie wrote: »

If you know you are earning more than they think you are, I'd ring and ask the. To suspend your claim immediately rather than wait for a payslip.

Not quite understanding why council would recalculate? Were you on a higher tax code than you should have been? If so, the. Your rebate will be disregarded but I don't think they'll go back over time but I don't know of any specific regs on this.

I'll head round there on Monday, I assumed you needed evidence to prove any changes in income.

Yes, I was getting taxed BR rather than 1000L, so taxed 20% instead of being within the personal allowance limit. I'm hoping HB is calculated on how much is received at the time instead of how much should have been received.

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

Our office procedure is to ignore the tax refund but take into account overtime.

Ah, that's good to know, thankyou


In terms of the overpayment, what happens then? Do they suddenly bill me for the whole lot when they can see although I'm earning a little too much to get benefit I can't cover the whole thing?