Tax credits/tax refund

later

Hi there. Between October 2016 and February 2019 I was a seconded student midwife. I earned a salary as a band 5 nurse.

I also applied for working tax credit (got basically zero) and child tax credits - they paid some of my childcare. This is where I'm confused - I understood the childcare element was only part of WTC, but in my bank it specifically says 'child tax credit'.

I've been told I'm entitled to a refund of my tax from when I was a student - somewhere along the lines of £3,000, under the Widening Access Training scheme. However, the amount I paid in tax is less than I got child tax credit.

Are they likely to reclaim all of it and more, if I get the refund? Or is child tax credit different?

sheramber

Tax credits are calculated on gross income- before tax is deducted- so a tax rebate will not affect them

Dazed_and_confused

One complication might be that by making the claim for a refund under the guise of Widening Access Training means you are saying that it wasn't a normal job/employment.

And that could mean that you are no longer entitled to tax credits. It obviously would be an an issue for Working Tax Credit as you weren't "working" but might not be for Child Tax Credit.

Another thing to remember is that if you get a refund of your National Insurance contributions then you will lose your entitlement to a State Pension for those years (due to not paying any NI) although you may have plenty of years left to make that up and get to the "new" State Pension maximum.

calcotti

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

Another thing to remember is that if you get a refund of your National Insurance contributions then you will lose your entitlement to a State Pension for those years (due to not paying any NI) although you may have plenty of years left to make that up and get to the "new" State Pension maximum.

The OP says they are being refunded income tax, not NI. It would be very unusual to be refunded NI as liability is calculated on a weekly basis (unlike income tax which is finalised on an annual basis).

Dazed_and_confused

There have been threads on the Cutting Tax board about Widening Access training and some people have had refunds of National Insurance.

Maybe different for the op?

calcotti

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

There have been threads on the Cutting Tax board about Widening Access training and some people have had refunds of National Insurance.

Maybe different for the op?

Wasn’t aware of that, maybe NI is involved.

later

Hello, for what it's worth, I received £3,100. I only got the childcare element but never received WTC. My bank statements say 'Child tax credit'.

I got a tax refund but not NI, as I got too much to not pay NI. I wouldn't want to have that gap anyway.