Child Tax Credits stopped & told to repay

amayeta

The neverend soul destroying events since my sister died.
I've posted here before and life is not getting any easier. Yesterday I received a letter informing me that the tax office was paying a final small sum of £28 but due my change in circumstance that I was not entitled to ANY Child Tax Credits and that I would have to pay back the previous years payments.

The only thing I can think of is the fact I own half of the property my sister lived in, I was there for a while when I was studying but moved back to my parents & left the Capital in. The other half is being kept in a trust for my sisters kid so I can't sell the thing and the other half is supposed to go to go to my son.

I am told if I place my half in a trust for my son then I will owe the Tax office money via Capital Gains Tax. So my child is suffering because I agreed to look after my nephew who is Autistic and since he turned 20 all funds except his DLA has has stopped.
He is not entitled to ESA and the executors keep telling me they cannot access money yet despite probate being granted but I am sure this is a croc.
I am planning to phone the Tax Office on Monday but obviously I am not doing well.
So I only have child benefit for my son, carers allowance and a small amount of IS. I still have my own mortgage to pay, bills extra and I don't mean I am rushing off on holidays like some people.

We are struggling and I am getting more depressed.

jetplane

I haven't read your other posts, but if you've been having a difficult time did you remember to complete and post your final tax credit assessment for 2014/15?

Not all awards are automatic.

Topcat1982

amayeta wrote: »

The only thing I can think of is the fact I own half of the property my sister lived in, I was there for a while when I was studying but moved back to my parents & left the Capital in. The other half is being kept in a trust for my sisters kid so I can't sell the thing and the other half is supposed to go to go to my son.

No. That would not affect child tax credits. Are you renting out and receiving income from rent?

Do you work, has your salary changed? Do you have a partner living with you?

amayeta

Since they introduced telephoning Tax credit Assessments I've used this method and simply write the date I contacted the office. No income is being generated by the property.
I did check the Inland Revenues site about.Child Tax Credit and came to the same conclusion that nothing about my circumstance should have effected my award which is why I will be phoning Tax office today and update thread.

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a reply.

amayeta

On Monday I phoned HM Revenue & Customs and they confirmed that had my Tax Credit Assessment was on file. I was informed that the STOP had been placed by Concentrix, a business service company that the Tax office uses but they were unable to tell me why. So I contacted the company directly. It turns out that they were missing additional information so I sent everything requested via Recorded Delivery.
Again thank you to everyone who took the time to reply to my post.

amayeta

Still no joy.
Despite sending in all the documentation requested today I received yet demand for proof of my status. This is beginning to fill like a never ending nightmare.
So I am going to send ing yet more details to confirm I am who I say I am and that my child did not simply disappear over night. Staff apologized but told me that they would note down my comments as this really does seem like over kill.

[Deleted User]

I am sorry if this is going off on a tangent but why were you told you could not claim ESA. My son is claiming ESA.., but as he can't cope with the process on his own, I am his appointee and deal with all the paperwork.

I would have thought that your nephew could claim ESA.

Obviously, I have no idea of your circumstances, but I was also able to get a specialist (autism team) social worker for my son. She has helped with a lot of things.

HOWMUCH

If your nephew is incapable of working and is not at college he can came Claim ESA

rogerblack

HOWMUCH wrote: »

If your nephew is incapable of working and is not at college he can came Claim ESA

I am assuming he has never worked, and is living with OP.
He may not be able to claim ESA, as he has part ownership of a property he is not living in, and the value of that part exceeds 16K.

In principle, I wonder if it would be legal to employ him until April 2017, so he gained enough NI conts in 2015/16 and 16/17.
A new claim in mid Jan 2018 would then make him entitled to contributory ESA.

If he is ill enough to be entitled to the support group, then he would then be entitled to contributory ESA from then on while he remains in the support group.

It is as I understand it not illegal to do this, though would be complicated to set up properly.

However, it is possible legislative change in the future may remove entitlement to CESA - it currently runs alongside universal credit, and was introduced in the form it will have in Jan 2018 by the present government.

It is hard to speculate further - 'Autistic' varies quite a lot.

On reflection, if the house has been simply assessed as market value / 2, that may be incorrect.

If you cannot legally sell the house, in order to give him his share, and he does not have the mental capacity to take over the trust, I am unsure if the properly assessed value is not 0.

To clarify - why was he refused ESA.

amayeta

I was told that my sister may have left funds then he would have to live off this.He is attending college but has to have one on one support to get through the class. I want to rent out the property so that it generates funds for his future care. As he gets older his needs may become more severe and I want to make sure he is well looked after as his mother would have wished.

I just feel like the tax office is making

it difficult. What has my mortgage got to do with getting child tax credits. Seriously?

Beside my nephewn 20 so its not about him I have my own son to think about. What about him?