How can tax credits estimate be so wrong??

Littlemoon

OK so I've just received my tax credits award letter, a bit of a waste seeing as this is all going to renew on the 6th April but I want to get this right. The estimate of earnings they have used is £13,331...but ive just checked my online pay slips and this is really wrong, infact I believe I only earned around £8,700! This was due to being on maternity last year from September 2016 until July 2017 and then from august I returned to work on a part time basis so my wage dropped again. From April till july I was only getting SMP nothing from my employer as they had stopped paying by this point. Earn month from april until july I was getting the standard £500+ and then in August I started getting my £785 payment for part time hours....so my question is how could there be such a massive difference in what WTC are saying I earned and what I actually earned??It just seems to be too massive

pmlindyloo

Did you notify them of the change of circumstances each time?

Littlemoon

No I wasn't claiming tax credits then, my claim went in on the 16th of February due to my partner leaving me.

bigbill

Could be even lower as you should ignore the first £100 of your SMP.

Remember TC use your earnings from April 16 - April 17 when they awarded this year?

Littlemoon

bigbill wrote: »

Could be even lower as you should ignore the first £100 of your SMP.

Remember TC use your earnings from April 16 - April 17 when they awarded this year?

but wouldn't that still be the 8k? for my pay going from april 16 when I was on maternity to now? or do they do it from april 15 to april 16 where I might have actually earned 13k?

Darksparkle

You tell tax credits what you expect to earn, it's not for them to estimate. If the figure is wrong, call and tell them.