Tax Credits - Online Renewal?

TheGardener

Having read about the issues getting through to the renewal helpline I checked out the online renewal.

Has anyone tried it? Call me a cynic but...there are 3 companies you can use to verify your ID as part of the process Experian, Post Office and another company I've never heard of. You need to use a UK Passport/photo driving license, your bank details and a mobile phone number and email address.

Given that 'my employer' has already told HMRC how much I earned last year (its on the renewal form) I'm wondering what they actually need me to 'renew' They know who I am, who I work for and how much I earned. Why the hoops to prove it all and in the process give/sell access to more personal details they can use to pester me with PPI claims and - the most recent- cold call me about what I intend to do with my pension pot...

georgiasdragons

I did mine online for the first time in APril, I feel very unsure as it said to wait 8 weeks for paper work.
But I got no email confirmation or anything so just hate the thought of waiting 8 weeks not knowing if it worked or not!


I wondered if anyone had renewed online had had award notice or heard back yet?


Ive not had sales calls or anything though from entering my mobile number.

TheGardener

..yes I am probably getting far to cynical in my old age...;)

Of course I understand the need to prove ID - what I can't fathom is why we even need to do a renewal given that our tax and insurance records are available to HMRC and they have filled in the income part of the renewal form for me already so there is in fact nothing on the form I can tell them about me or my child that they don't already know to be the case?

Is this the first year of getting income information direct from employers? I haven't noticed it before.

Icequeen99

This isn't just for tax credits.

The new verify is Government wide. So you register the first time you use any Government service and then you are registered for other new services. They are bringing different services into the new system across the year.

IQ

TheGardener

I do appreciate there are lots of people with different circumstances - but equally lots of people have straightforward circumstances and I can see from the form that the earnings figure is right and of course I would be quick to tell them if it wasn't.

I'm just from a generation that didn't think it was ok for the 'state' to know everything and that everything about me was linked from my car number plate to my pension contributions. In fact, I was born in a time when mass surveillance like that was considered the stuff of nightmares and best seller thriller movies by Orwell !! :eek: :rotfl::eek:

How times change...:)

TheGardener

Well - decided to do the renewal by phone and got through in less that 30 seconds!
Job done

DigForVictory

I've always accepted I have to talk to the Tax Credits folk every year as while they can see my income all too clearly, they can't see how my boys are doing. I like to brag as they move up to Big School, get offers for sixth form places & so on.
Child Benefit writes & asks whether a child is staying on in school - Tax Credits need to be told...