Working Tax Credits
PhoenixRises
Posts: 2,607 Forum Member
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Hi
A lot of the people I work with claim working tax credits and I thought I would give it a look since any little helps, unfortunately I did the calculator and it said I could get working tax credits of the amount of £0.00 which I assume is their way of saying go away.
But I was just wondering what do you need to have to claim working tax credits because the only difference between me and work colleagues is that they have children and a partner who doesn't work claiming income support or something, but since you get Child tax credits for the children and other benefits for the income support, then I am just making sure it isn't those difference that is making difference between me and my colleagues.
A lot of the people I work with claim working tax credits and I thought I would give it a look since any little helps, unfortunately I did the calculator and it said I could get working tax credits of the amount of £0.00 which I assume is their way of saying go away.
But I was just wondering what do you need to have to claim working tax credits because the only difference between me and work colleagues is that they have children and a partner who doesn't work claiming income support or something, but since you get Child tax credits for the children and other benefits for the income support, then I am just making sure it isn't those difference that is making difference between me and my colleagues.
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Comments
Eligibility for working tax credits - https://www.gov.uk/working-tax-credit/eligibility
Yes, that does mean, those with children can get both child tax credits and working tax credits.
Tax credits are based on income and paid when income is below a certain amount. That amount depends on your circumstances. Allowances are higher for people with a partner or children.
For a singleton with no kids, once you get to about £13-14k, you're over the limit and not eligible.
I'm unemployed, I don't get JSA because I get Carers Allowance for my disabled daughter (both are categorised as an "Income Replacement" benefit so you can't have both though at around £200 a month I'm not sure whose income that would replace
So our earned income is very low (below 15k) and we get Children's Tax Credits but we don't qualify for Tax Credits.
Even before my wife increased her hours from 2 days to three days work at the end of last year (so our income was even lower still) we still didn't qualify for Tax Credits.
One dependant child at college so ctc.
Also I am unable to work, and claim esa (support group) and Pip (get both elements)
The pip brings down the threshold so partner and I get it due to that.
Before I qualified for pip we was £12 per annum over the threshold for it.
Other half is on low income, less than 13k- even though he works 6 days a week most days. Coach drivers wages suck, he is below min wage as he gets paid per day, instead of per hour. If he does 15 hour days (like today) he gets the same as only going 4 hours work.
To qualify for working tax credit as a couple when one of you gets carer's allowance, the other needs to work 16 hours pw. 3 days pw is surely more than that?
That doesn't make a difference, if he is getting paid less than minimum wage. You just need to work out how many hours he has done compared to his per annum wage, and if it does work out less than minimum wage over the year, then they need to speak to somebody, a union rep, ACAS, HR etc.
Whenever I've had tax credits, they come back later to say they've overpaid me and want all the money back!
Bare in mind that I've always given them all the correct details, plus we don't calculate the amount that they pay, THEY DO - but it always ends up being the claimants fault!
I am extremely glad to not get them anymore. Even if I was eligible I wouldn't apply.
It's not worth the hassle.
They are a bloody nightmare.
I don't know anyone who has received either Child Tax Credits or Working Tax Credits and not got into this pickle. They cock up the calculations every time.
I am expecting another windfall this year as partner has been on sick for 3 1/2 months this tax year.
The amount you get paid is only ever provisional, based on an estimate of how much your income is likely to be. You provide the estimate, and if the outcome after review is very different, it's invariably because of a change in circumstances after the estimate was given.
I have to say, despite looking into several overpayment cases for clients, I have never found that HMRC have got the sums wrong. It's invariably down to a change of circumstances that happened after the original award.
First year we received a monthly payment, second year they said they had overpaid us so not only was the monthly payment reduced but they claimed back the overpayment so we received nothing at all. Then the following year the payment ended up higher than it was in the first year when they claimed it was an overpayment.
Well that is not my personal experience so I disagree with your whole post!
and when I went to the C.A.B about it they said it was a very common problem that they see a lot.
Sometimes the award is based on incorrect information, but that's not the same as getting the sums wrong.
Each year's provisional award is based on the previous year's income. That's why the same income is included in the final award for the previous year and the estimated figure for the current year. Differences income of less than £2,500 (or £5,000 for increases iirc) are disregarded when converting the previous year's provisional award into the S18 (final) award.
If a claimant doesn't check the award notices, and doesn't tell HMRC about differences, the error will be repeated year after year until it exceeds the disregard level, then it becomes an over- or underpayment, and a large one at that.
When I get queries about tax credit overpayments, around half of them are because people simply didn't return the review paperwork by the deadline, which means HMRC treat their case as a nil entitlement for the previous year. About another 30% are because people have split up or got together with partners and not informed HMRC, resulting in an overpayment. About another 10% are cases where the claimant has failed to tell HMRC that a child is no longer in full-time education or that they have reduced their working hours to below the threshold for working tax credits.
As long as people check the award notices properly and notify ALL changes in circumstances promptly, things shouldn't go very wrong. The award notices are relatively clear (especially compared to, say, a housing benefit award letter) and they even send you a check list to help you.
The nearest I've found to an error in calculation in a tax credit award was when they'd only added a child element for one of a pair of twins. As the twins were called Elle and Ella, I found it quite understandable!
So the money they over paid me is at present in a bank account, just in case they want it back.
but why do you seem to be implying that what I've said does not happen - it happens all the time, to everyone I've ever spoken to about tax credits - and the CAB said to me they see this same problem ALL THE TIME.
In the years I was getting tax credits I was not in and out of work. My hours did not change. My hourly rate of pay did not change. My number of children did not change.
THEY made the mistakes in paying me too much.
The scenario is basically this:
Imagine you are working and taking home 250 pounds a week. Tax credits say to you 'Hey, we could top up your earnings each week by another 50 pounds - BUT please bear in mind that we may decide after a year that we want most of that money back!'
The sane response to that example, I have realized now, is to just say 'Thanks, but NO THANKS' >:(
I am EXTREMELY happy to not ever have to mess about with them anymore..........
However they generally won't say "give us back £2000 now" they will instead claim back the £2000 by spreading it over your next year deducting some from each month. So they might reduce your future payments by £170ish a month even if this reduces you to zero.
So the money you put aside would have to be used to pay yourself to replace what you would normally have received.
Not sure what happens however if the amount they paid you in error was far in excess of what you would receive...they could either reduce your payments for years to come or maybe in these cases thy do ask for a lump sum back.
You said in a previous post you were paying an overpayment back through their debt agency is this for a previous year?