UC and tax return

avery01

Hi, my husband is self employed and  would normally claim his tax return in April, we have had to claim Universal credit due to not working. Does anyone know how it would affect our UC if we claimed the tax return? Thanks

poppy12345

Yes, it will affect the amount of UC you're entitled to in the month it's received.

maisie_cat

HMRC will be looking at all self employed who normally get a tax rebate, they'll be looking for people who this year defer when they they normally would not. Now that systems are joined up by NIN the government has eyes on all your finances

avery01

Thanks @poppy12345, I thought it would, but other self employed are saying it wont. Do you no by how much by any chance? 

calcotti

Any tax rebate is treated as if it was earned income. The rebate will be treated in the same way as if he had received payment from a customer. It will form part of the business income for the month. If there are any outstanding business bills that need paying he could pay these as business expenditure. The only amount taken into account is the surplus income over expenditure for the month. 
Generally, the UC payable will be reduced by 63% of the amount of the income taken not account. There are circumstances when the UC reduction may be less than this, it will not be more.
Treatment of tax rebates in UC is very unfair in my opinion but unfortunately those are the rules.