Do you need to renew your tax credits if you don’t receive them?

[SomeKindOfFloppyWeirdo]

Sorry if that title makes no sense! We used to claim tax credits, but now for the last 6 years or so haven’t claimed child tax credits or working tax credits as we earn enough not to have to.

However, we still get sent the paperwork to renew our tax credits every year. If we still earn over the threshold (our wages haven’t changed since last year) do we still have to go online and update/enter our salaries etc? None of our personal circumstances have changed, but every year they send us the renewal pack, and every year I go online and answer all the qs, and every year they send us a letter saying they’ll give us £0.00 as we don’t qualify. Well, obviously, and we’re happy with that!

So, to skip to the end, do you have to renew online even if you earn above the threshold and don’t want/need tax credits? Or do you have to do it even though there’s no point?

(I’m a bit ill with a fuzzy head so sorry if this makes no sense!)

Close your claim

I had a letter recently and it said you should claim, even if you don’t get anything, as it’s easier if you ever have to claim in the future.

Reading the letter more carefully, page 3 (the “complete your annual review” page”) says that if your total joint income for 20-21 is not less that £31703 and 21-22’s income is not less that £29203, then “your annual review is complete and you do not need to do anything else.”

Do they mean I don’t have to fill in anything online? That’s seems to be what it’s suggesting

I wrote to them to ask them to stop sending the letters out but it was a nightmare trying to find out what I was supposed to do to stop them arriving and the woman I spoke to about it was ridiculously arsey about it!!

Thanks @Chasingsquirrels and @DinosaurDiana I took so long typing I missed your replies! Would love to close my claim, but also a good point about keeping it “live” in case I need it in the future. Hmm!

@PaperMonster that sounds very familiar Did you stop completing the online renewal, or carry on with it?

If you don't want to go on universal credit in the future than just keep it open and fill in the paperwork. If you're confident you won't need them/are happy to go on UC than close your claim. You will not be able to apply for tax credits again though, just UC.

I’ve never done anything since we stopped being eligible and we still get the renewal pack every year. I just file it, never been online or anything (since we were actually getting it I mean).

That's actually a good point re keeping it re the future and UC.

I closed mine cos my then-DP moved in with me, and we wouldn't have been eligible for a joint claim - but that's a different situation.

I'm now claiming after he died, but am on TC as its some time ago and I wouldn't be eligible for UC.

@SomeKindOfFloppyWeirdo

Reading the letter more carefully, page 3 (the “complete your annual review” page”) says that if your total joint income for 20-21 is not less that £31703 and 21-22’s income is not less that £29203, then “your annual review is complete and you do not need to do anything else.”

Do they mean I don’t have to fill in anything online? That’s seems to be what it’s suggesting

Yes, most "renewals" only need you to do something if the information they have is incorrect.

Maybe one day you will qualify?! Easier if you already have one in place!!

@SomeKindOfFloppyWeirdo I don’t think I did it online. I just kept getting a letter through each year and for a couple of years I rang and asked them to stop sending them and they said they would but obviously didn’t. The final time I refused to get off the phone until I knew exactly what I had to do to stop them sending the letters out and the woman was very shouty at me down the phone! I muttered “ffs” at one point under my breath - but obviously not enough under my breath as she threatened to put the phone down on me! So I apologised for my response to the frustration I was feeling due to the incompetence I was facing! It was as if she’d never been asked how to stop these letters coming or even find out how to do so and really couldn’t understand why I wanted them to stop!

But bloomin heck, I’ve just thought - I might be eligible again cos I’ve just been made redundant. Not sure I can face them again!!

I just ignored them, you don't need to update unless you think you would be entitled to something. So long as they're not actually paying you anything you can't get into any trouble as they're obviously not overpaying you. Eventually after several years of me ignoring they wrote to say they would be closing my claim and I've never heard from them since.

Thanks so much everyone! This has been really helpful I will just ignore it then as none of our details have changed and we receive exactly £0.00 every year

Child benefit is completely separate, right? So not renewing this won’t affect child benefit, will it?

Completely separate yes

If one (or both) of you have income higher than £50k the one with the highest income has to declare Child Benefit on their tax return and pay back some (or all) depending on total income

Thanks @Chasingsquirrels your posts have all been really helpful. I’m really sorry to hear about your then-dp.

@PaperMonster that must have been so frustrating! I had to phone up to pay back an overpayment once and the guy was so aggressive that I just ended up laughing. Which didn’t help! I hope that if you do have to apply again it’s really stress free!

Thanks everyone for the help, and not mocking my inability to read and understand a form