Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

lets have a tax credit rant thread

155 replies

maighdlin · 18/04/2011 10:25

as it is the joyful new tax credit year i thought i would start a thread for people to rant on.

our tax credits have gone down to £33pw when according to HMRC calculator it should be £68pw. i received no letter from them informing me of this cut. i phoned them and they are using an estimate of our income based on the assumption that i would have been working full time since having DD, not true was made redundant. They said i can't get it fixed until i receive my renewal pack and i may not receive it until 30 june. GREAT!! DH earns just over 15k we pay 660pm for mortgage and rates. i'm a full time student but most of my money goes on child care. can't get a job as most jobs that i could do are min wage and they would have to pay me more than a 16 year old so 16 year old probably gets job. I feel like banging my head against the wall. even more money worries!!

feel free to vent about tax credits below. overpayments, underpayments, their general unhelpfulness...

OP posts:
Reality · 18/04/2011 12:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

berrieberrie · 18/04/2011 12:20

I earn 40k and don't pay in tot a pension Shock after rent, tax, childcare, CM for DP's ex, care for nan, travel to work etc etc I can't afford it!

Xenia · 18/04/2011 12:20

I think there is huge merit in increasing the single person tax allowance and abolishing the complex child credits system and all tax credits. They were a labour device to make most people with chidlren in the country benefit recipients even when they earned up to £60k. The single person allwoance is I think going up to about £7500 whch is great. If we could abolish all credits and get it up nearer £10k that would simply things such a lot. Plenty of women work part time and earn that mount or less so they wouldn't need to worry about paying tax, tax returns etc etc.

LaWeasel · 18/04/2011 12:21

Some jobs come with mandatory pension contrabutions.

Also, the younger you are the less likely it is that there will be any kind of state pension for you when you aren't able to work any more.

It's definately something I worry about, personally.

missymarmite · 18/04/2011 12:22

No, I am paying £40 into a pension (state), which I thought was a responsible thing to do, planning for the future and all that, not just relying on the state to help me. I pay £100 in tax and NI.

Reality · 18/04/2011 12:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

missymarmite · 18/04/2011 12:27

That's ok, I didn't make it very clear.

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 18/04/2011 12:29

It's the proposed cut of 2/3 to the disabled child elements that scares me witless- it may eman I have to give up work as soon as I start back due to the high costs of Sn childcare. People say make a loss but there's only so much one can make, no? We'll need a specilaist Nanny, perhaps even two (multiple disabled kids).

It's not true at all that you ahve to wait until the pack- they are perfectly able to switch you to the other system that we are on, where it is paid according to the income NOW. You have to really push for that though, and maybe put it in writing that you want it done. The downside is you ahve to really keep with it and notify every extra penny you get so you don;t get an over payment- that's why they are reluctant to do it. Can be done, though.

Agree about student ahrdship but apply soon s my uni always runs out by end of Easter hols.

lovecorrie · 18/04/2011 12:30

It's never nice thinking you have to rely on the state, I was in a heap on the floor when I realised I'd have to apply for JSA. The system is very strange is all i can say. We are very lucky to have a mortgage I know, we managed to buy at the right time - although we are only paying interest even now... I'm terrified at the thought that all that hard work may be taken away :(

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 18/04/2011 12:30

Xenia won;t that work against people starting businesses (and we need the entrepreneours right now) who are on very low azable incomes for the first few eyaras, and Sn famillies?

Now, if we could manage those two- so an entrepreneiurs credit and a maintenance of Sn family income then yes OK, but there needs to be recognition of the other areas that feed into TCs atm.

popelle · 18/04/2011 12:35

I agree with Xenia, the tax credit system is just the Government bribing people with their own money. It would be far better to either get rid of them and raise the income tax threshold with the money saved.

mamatomany · 18/04/2011 12:38

Tax credits pay for far more unreasonable things than a pension, they've also inflated the housing market as they are taken into consideration when calculating affordability, hopefully those who bought 5 years ago at the peak now no longer need the childcare element.

missymarmite · 18/04/2011 12:51

As it is, the reduction in the Childcare element from 80% to 70% will hit the poorest families the hardest. Just as all prices are going up, including my childcare fees, the money we will get is being reduced. And so I am seriously considering my options. Currently I have a great job as a TA, but I have to travel 13 miles each way to get there. Public transport is not an option, even if it was cheap. I carshare to reduce petrol costs, but it is killing us keeping the car running on top of all the other price rises.

Round here, there are very few permanent job opportunities, and nearly all jobs offered are minimum wage, which means if I get a job closer to home, it will be less money, for more hours, in a job I don't like. But then, my childcare bill will go up as I will have to fund holiday childcare. Plus, 9 times out of 10, that job will finish by the end of the tourist season, and then I would have to go on full time unemployment benefits for the winter. At least then DS would be entitled to free school meals, and money for extracurricular activities. I wouldn't need a car, and my council tax and rent would be paid.

So who benefits from this? Me? DS? Society?

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 18/04/2011 13:03

popelle are you aware of the extra credits delivered alongside teh TC system? granted that wasn't part of the rationale when set up but worth beaing in mind. For example, people no longer get IS for children as they used to but get TCs, and parents of disabled children get e specialist payment also (it's related to DLA- DLA by law covers the costs of teh disability whilst the extra payments are for things like extra childcare, the fact that it is so much harder for many carers to work and they are possibly going to need larger houses, more cars, specilaist childcare, special diets 9delete as applciable to SN).

TCs are no longer 'just' TCs; tehya re a delviery emchanism for many different payments.

bebejones · 18/04/2011 13:04

Haven't even heard anything from them yet....mine are due to hit my account this week...I am not feeling hopeful! :(

pinkgirlythoughts · 18/04/2011 13:14

What confuses me the most is the fact that I apparently have a low enough income to apply for those Healthy Start vouchers to buy fruit and veg in pregnancy, but when I browsed the website I was informed I don't qualify for them as I 'don't claim the correct benefits.' I don't claim any benefits, but I will be eligible to claim child tax credits when my baby is born, and then I'll be able to apply for Healthy Start vouchers. But then I won't be pregnant any more..... Hmm

LaWeasel · 18/04/2011 13:21

pinkgirly - don't worry about this. We had that too, they just don't think about all the miriad of reasons you might be on a low income but not claiming income support/job seekers etc.

Just get a form and apply if you think you are entitled. You will need to ring them and let them know if you're circumstances change in the future (esp if you're earning more as you might stop being entitled)

TC office should send you a free prescriptions card if your income is lower than a certain amount also.

lenak · 18/04/2011 13:24

We've got the opposite problem with them. On renewal last year we informed them that our childcare had gone up from £90 per week to £105 per week in the September.

They got the amount right for the current year but instead of increasing the childcare from the September they deleted it completely and then tried to charge us an overpayment of £2.5K!

I've got an appeal in with them at the moment and have told it will be dealt with by July!

We're not eligible this year, but weren't going to claim anyway 'cause it's too damn complicated - luckily we can afford not to though - I feel sorry for those who were reliant on the payments.

emmie31 · 18/04/2011 14:27

This whole tax credit thing has wound me up, they've stopped ours even though we earn 13 grand under the £420000 limit, when I called them they said it was because my husband had a company car.... hmmm yes the car he already gets taxed for, a car that is compulsory for his job and he pays mileage for ( not all company cars are free ) so because of the value of the car we don't get our tax credit....It's not like we can sell the bloody thing when times get really tough is it?! so looks like an extra job for me so I can pay them even more tax and I'll be able to afford to pay for child care so I can stay in my 1st job... So once again i't's people like me and my husband who already work our butts off get stiffed again! Oh well..

EggyFucker · 18/04/2011 14:36

could someone quickly explain the difference between "childcare credits" and "tax credits"

we never got any for one portion and just got a letter to say we won't be getting the other portion either (previously about 55 quid a month)

am unclear which though

I don't understand it, and when I try to call, I am on hold for hours so have given up Sad

emmie31 · 18/04/2011 14:42

Not totally sure, i think we only got child tax credits as earned too much to get working tax credit and child tax credits ... think that right. But now like you get neither....

CheekyLittleSox · 18/04/2011 14:48

Our tax credits have dropped £40p/m until we renew - we only earnt £7,744 tax year and this last tax year 10/11 we have earnt £7,000. (yes £7k, its not an error Wink)

i was on part time work, DH was a STAD then we changed rolls, he got finished from work after 3mths due to a heart problem and he has only been in this job since january. We struggle.

CheekyLittleSox · 18/04/2011 14:50

Emmie thats bollox - since when did a company car come into what yhou should get for your tax credits? i wouldnt be happy about it either.

My DH gets a van that is free - he even gets his fuel paid for so does that mean i have declare that to them??? Without the Van he couldnt do that job, as hes a Digital Aerial Engineer.

LaWeasel · 18/04/2011 14:53

Working tax credits are for if you are earning a low wage and to top it up.

Child tax credits are for if you have a low taxable income and children.

Which includes the childcare element - up to 80(soon to be 70)% of the costs of your ofsted registered childcare, up to a certain amount per week. To be eligable for this I think you can have a higher income but I'm not sure quite how high it goes.

I don't know if you can be eligable for the childcare part if there are adults at home. (I think probably not.)

CheekyLittleSox · 18/04/2011 14:56

your only entitled to childcare help if both parents work 16hour or more.

Swipe left for the next trending thread