very confused over tax credits

toria27

Hi all,

a bit of background:

I live with my partner he is on £22,000 I am on £14,000 we both work over 30 hours

we have a 2 year old DD with no disability

We pay £125 a week childcare

I used to get £43 every 4 weeks CTC however this was before I started working full time, our joint income has increased by £6000 and I now pay childcare, those are the only new things.
I received a letter saying I would now be getting £145 every 4 weeks. I rang them and said this must be an overpayment (don't want the hassle of being overpaid)
They made some corrections and told me to ring back in a few days which I did only to be told I will be receiving £175 every 4 weeks!!!!

Now that would be a lovely amount to receive but I don't see how that is right with a joint income of £36,000 the man on the phone just kept saying it is right.

Any advice would be great or anyone on similar earnings, by the way the entitled to website says I should just get £43 every 4 weeks. Do i have to pay it back if it is their error and I have informed them of this on several occassions??

Hope all this makes sense

natters_2

The £43 sounds about right to me - but this lot can't tell their a$%^£ from their elbows.

If you are strong enough to not be tempted to spend it I would put the overpayment into a high interest account - then pay it off when they ask for it back.

mitchaa

toria27 wrote: »

Hi all,

a bit of background:

I live with my partner he is on £22,000 I am on £14,000 we both work over 30 hours

we have a 2 year old DD with no disability

We pay £125 a week childcare

I used to get £43 every 4 weeks CTC however this was before I started working full time, our joint income has increased by £6000 and I now pay childcare, those are the only new things.
I received a letter saying I would now be getting £145 every 4 weeks. I rang them and said this must be an overpayment (don't want the hassle of being overpaid)
They made some corrections and told me to ring back in a few days which I did only to be told I will be receiving £175 every 4 weeks!!!!

Now that would be a lovely amount to receive but I don't see how that is right with a joint income of £36,000 the man on the phone just kept saying it is right.

Any advice would be great or anyone on similar earnings, by the way the entitled to website says I should just get £43 every 4 weeks. Do i have to pay it back if it is their error and I have informed them of this on several occassions??

Hope all this makes sense

Taken diect from the HMRC do i qualify site..

http://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/Qualify/DIQHousehold.aspx

You should be entitled to £594.74 per year or £45.75 every 4 weeks.

The man on the phone is wrong, expect the overpayments, put them aside in a high interest savings account and when they ask for them back at least you will have made something and wont need to go down the route of paying them back overpayments.

LilacPixie

remember its based on prev year income.

I did a little calculation based on a 30k income last year with your child care costs and i make it outto be arouns £51 a week taken directly from the HMRC site

Based on the information you have entered, your household may be entitled to the following tax credits award:-
Child Tax Credit£2570.32
Childcare element of Working Tax Credit£306.72
Sub total£2877.04

Working Tax Credit (less the childcare element of Working Tax Credit)£0.00
Note: The childcare element of Working Tax Credit will always be paid direct to the person who is mainly responsible for caring for the child or children, alongside payments of Child Tax Credit.
Total£2877.04
This is based on your household income of £30000.00.This is the amount your household may be entitled to from 15/04/2008 until 05/04/2009. This result is only an estimate and is based on the information provided assuming you make the claim on 15/04/2008. This means the amount shown may not be your entitlement for the full year.

System

Until you complete your 2007/2008 annual declaration TCO will be using your 06/07 income to calculate your entitlement so take a look at your last award notice and check what income is being used. Then try using those figures along with your childcare costs in the HMRC calculator and that should give you an idea what your provisional 2008/2009 award would be.

When you submit your annual declaration with the up to date 07/08 income figures (from your P60's) then TCO will readjust your 08/09 award.

Tax credit awards are always based on the income of the last complete tax year. You do not need to tell them of an increase in income during the tax year unless your household income increase by more than £25000.

toria27

Thanks for all the replies,

I rang them again after posting on here and they confirmed what a couple of you have said. They are basing this payment on last years earnings and as we are now paying childcare this is why the mount has gone up significantly. I have been assured it is not an overpayment and that they will not ask for it back.

Also, even though I have given them the new income details for this year theysaid that does not come into account until next year.

He said enjoy the money its definetly yours.

toria27

ok am i being dumb here, when i went back on the web site entitled to it is saying we do not have to pay council tax even based on the new income of £36000 surely this is wrong

toria27

right ignore last message the website as playing up as it also had a lower figure for child benefit