Do you tell the tax credits people about your annual bonus??!!

lizsara

Ok, this may sound like I am being thick but I am in a muddle when I ma trying to renew my tax credits.

My son was born April 07 and so this was whenI applied for the tax credits. The asked me for my annual salary so I told them. Now my renewal form has come and it wants to know what I earned last year. Now I got a bonus in March of this year of £3375. do I put this down as part of my earnings?

When I started claiming the tax credits last yr I was only earning 13k per yr. The man on the phone worked out what I was to put down as my earnings He said I was on 13k for 13weeks of the yr which was 3328 and then mat pay for the rest which was 112per week. but then you take off 100 for every week you claim mat pay so it was only 12per week. Any cut a long story short the bloke said I should put my salary down as about 6grand or something like that. Anyways my renewal thing has just come through and it wants to know what I earned last tax yr. Now I got a massive payrise when I went back to work (which i told them about, am now on 20500) and I also got a 3375 bonus paid in March. So my P60 says I earned 14500 last yr! even when I take off the 100per week for the mat leave that is still 10600 which is miles away from the 6000 the man calculated!! Are you meant to tell them about your bonus? I couldnt have told them at the start becuase it isn't garunteed you could end up with nothing. and they never mentioned anything about bonuses and the website doesn't say anything about it either. Does anyone claim tax credits and receive an annual bonus? What do you do?!!

lil_me

Any earnings including bonuses are classed as income and not informing them could be classed as fraud. If in doubt inform them.

emilyt

Yes your bonus is classed as earnings. Tell them. Otherwise you will be overpaid.

hotblu

lizsara wrote: »

Ok, this may sound like I am being thick but I am in a muddle when I ma trying to renew my tax credits.

My son was born April 07 and so this was whenI applied for the tax credits. The asked me for my annual salary so I told them. Now my renewal form has come and it wants to know what I earned last year. Now I got a bonus in March of this year of £3375. do I put this down as part of my earnings?

When I started claiming the tax credits last yr I was only earning 13k per yr. The man on the phone worked out what I was to put down as my earnings He said I was on 13k for 13weeks of the yr which was 3328 and then mat pay for the rest which was 112per week. but then you take off 100 for every week you claim mat pay so it was only 12per week. Any cut a long story short the bloke said I should put my salary down as about 6grand or something like that. Anyways my renewal thing has just come through and it wants to know what I earned last tax yr. Now I got a massive payrise when I went back to work (which i told them about, am now on 20500) and I also got a 3375 bonus paid in March. So my P60 says I earned 14500 last yr! even when I take off the 100per week for the mat leave that is still 10600 which is miles away from the 6000 the man calculated!! Are you meant to tell them about your bonus? I couldnt have told them at the start becuase it isn't garunteed you could end up with nothing. and they never mentioned anything about bonuses and the website doesn't say anything about it either. Does anyone claim tax credits and receive an annual bonus? What do you do?!!

Hello,

In answer to your question you DO have to advise of bounus as it is earnings that will show on your P60. Failure to do so will result in possible fraud investigation (basically once renewals are done the details are cross checked with other departments, for example Self Assessment and PAYE later in the year).
It does sound like you have been overpaid so I would do your renewal asap as you may be being overpaid.
Also, you can't blame the "man" on the phone if you dispute any o/p. He would of done an est of your income but ounce is on you to provide details, "man" wouldn't have known about bounes etc. If you dont know about possible bonuses then you should over estimate.

Hotblu

lizsara

hey thanks,

you sound as if you work for them... when you have been overpaid do you have to pay it back in one go or do they just stop paying you until it evens itself out?

hotblu

lizsara wrote: »

hey thanks,

you sound as if you work for them... when you have been overpaid do you have to pay it back in one go or do they just stop paying you until it evens itself out?

If you have been overpaid TC but still have exsisting eligibility and entitlement on the same claim you have the overpayment on then it will be cross year recovered. Which means they recover the money from future payments. If you only recieve the basic element of TC (£547.50 anually), then they will do 100% recovery which would mean your payments stop. However, if you get more than they will recover at a lesser rate- and if you are struggling you can ask them to reduce the rate of recovery even more, but that will be dependant on indiviual circumstances and meeting certain criterias.
Also, I would just like to mention, if your payments stop altogether to recover an o/p, dont stop informing TC of changes in circumstances for example income increase. You still have to give these details because you are still claiming the benfit, just not recieving any payments. Hope all this makes sense and I haven't waffled too much. If you need any more help just fire away.

Regards

Hotblu

RubyShoes

Lizsara,

Due to the fact you didn't earn more than £25000 over your estimated pay, then you wont be asked to repay anything from last year. You may however have been getting over payments since the start of this new tax year. So there may be an overpaid amount. I have recieved my finalised award notice, and have earned £15000 more than the estimated amount. I have not had to repay anything, other than £100 which was overpaid at the start of this new tax year (they pay in advance - I actually closed down my claim, so they had paid me for the week ahead in the new tax year) but nothing from last years award.

There are rules to how much they can take from your income and such, if you look on www.hmrc.gov.uk and search tax credits overpayments, this should tell you more.

HTH.
x

hotblu

Hello RubyShoes,

The OP may have been over paid for last tax year aswell. If they dropped their income to a lower amount than the py then you can get overpaid, for example... 06/07 actual income £16000, if in 07/08 income is re-estimated to lower amount, say £10000, then the disregard doesn't apply between the £10000 - £16000 and you can get overpaid. Hope that makes sense.

Hotblu

msmicawber

Yes, I'm in the same situation as you (though my bonus is in the hundreds rather than the thousands). I haven't had any problems as I just let them know the figure from my P60 when I renew my claim and they make the necessary adjustments for the next year. If that year is a non-bonus year, then the amount on the P60 is lower than the previous year and the award adjusted accordingly and so on. You've nothing to worry about as long as you provide correct figures when you renew and don't miss the deadlines.

RubyShoes

hotblu wrote: »

Hello RubyShoes,

The OP may have been over paid for last tax year aswell. If they dropped their income to a lower amount than the py then you can get overpaid, for example... 06/07 actual income £16000, if in 07/08 income is re-estimated to lower amount, say £10000, then the disregard doesn't apply between the £10000 - £16000 and you can get overpaid. Hope that makes sense.

Hotblu

I get what you mean, but where can I find this information through tax credits, as this is not what I have read previously.

lizsara

Have sent my renewal notice thing off today!