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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be pissed off that DH has had a bonus cos tax credits will take loads of money off us

368 replies

FuckingTaxCredits · 23/03/2015 18:06

have nc doubt the dm readers will be out in force for this one

dh has had an annual bonus of 2700

which should be awesome news but I nearly cried when dh told me

as this happened a few years ago as well, and i know that when I do our tax credits renewal they will end up royally screwing me up the ass and taking loads off us. even though dh will prob come out with 2k, max, of his bonus, if he is lucky, but tax credits will take the whole amount off us

so it will hit ME in MY pocket cos dh is doing well at work

bonuses should be just that, a FUCKING BONUS

so pissed off

OP posts:
irretating · 24/03/2015 14:17

Wikipedia tells me that it was a Conservative government who first introduced an income supplement for poor working families. How interesting.

irretating · 24/03/2015 14:22

Ffs I work full time, am not entitied to tax credits and have not been on holiday for 7 years! You can actually afford a holiday and are on tax credits? I thought it wasn't for luxuries??? Suck it up princess - I paid for your effing holiday and sacrificed my own....

Are you not entitled to tax credits because of income or because you don't have children of qualifying age?

Original poster
FuckingTaxCredits · 24/03/2015 14:37

Ffs I work full time, am not entitied to tax credits and have not been on holiday for 7 years! You can actually afford a holiday and are on tax credits? I thought it wasn't for luxuries??? Suck it up princess - I paid for your effing holiday and sacrificed my own....

Grin

for that comment alone AuntieDee, I will enjoy every second of my 2 weeks laying by the pool in the south of france which apparently was paid for by you and you alone. Cheers Wine

OP posts:
ouryve · 24/03/2015 14:45

Isn't the bonus under the disregard limit?

Number3cometome · 24/03/2015 14:49

I got a nice big bonus, I ended up with tax credits overpayments.

Had to pay it back.

Just have to suck it up i'm afraid.

I am no longer entitled to Tax Credits and also have to pay back a proportion of Child benefit. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Original poster
FuckingTaxCredits · 24/03/2015 14:50

ouryve

I am not quite sure what that means tbh Blush

I find the whole thing so bloody complex

i just know that the last time dh got a bonus we got absolutely stung, ended up with an overpayment AND they lowered our weekly payments. and i thought it was disproportionate to what we had actually received.

OP posts:
bananaramadramallama · 24/03/2015 14:56

Ouryve, I just had a quick look and I think it is under the 'disregard' limit.

Even if it's not, anything claimed back from overpayment will be only the amount paid over the disregard amount.

Overall, op and family will be better off regardless (money saved on interest on credit card balance etc).
Big performance over nothing really…

Number3cometome · 24/03/2015 14:57

Nope, it's taxable income, you have to declare it.

HoppityVoosh · 24/03/2015 14:58

I get what the OP is annoyed at but that's just the way it is. DH got a promotion and a £3000ish pay rise. “3 grand!" we thought "that's loads!" but after tax and tax credits were adjusted we were actually only about £50 a month better off, but I'd much rather the rise came from earnings not tax credits.

bananaramadramallama · 24/03/2015 15:02

Link to the 'disregard' info - I read it as relating to taxable, earned income fluctuations.

Number3cometome · 24/03/2015 15:02

You can always say 'thanks but no thanks' to the bonus if you think it makes you worse off?

I'm sure the employer would be more than happy!

bananaramadramallama · 24/03/2015 15:04

Number3, I think it means they (hmrc) disregard it, not op.

BrendaBlackhead · 24/03/2015 15:05

I don't understand at all Confused

We are taxed as individuals, but benefits are meted out to households. So, as a SAHM, I can't claim that I have zilch and get income support, free school meals, etc etc if dh earnt £1m a year (if only...).

So, for OP, the bonus is taxed - yep, that's aggravating, as is all tax, but the household's income has risen and so it is right that the corresponding benefit should fall. Otherwise, as per my last paragraph, every SAHP would be laughing all the way to the benefits office and, indeed, why many people pretend not to be living as a couple.

Number3cometome · 24/03/2015 15:06

www.gov.uk/tax-credits-working-out-income#other-income

I'd be very careful, it's taxable income, you have to declare it or you risk being prosecuted for giving a false income.

bananaramadramallama · 24/03/2015 15:09

The overall outcome is that you won't be £2700 better of post bonus, but you certainly won't be worse off - quite the opposite in fact.

Perhaps you could use some of that time by the pool to brush up on your maths OP?! Wink

Original poster
FuckingTaxCredits · 24/03/2015 15:18

haha banana if i am honest i totally need to Blush

the whole thing fries my tiny brain

OP posts:
bananaramadramallama · 24/03/2015 15:34

That's one of the reasons I hate the whole system fuckingtc, there's too many variables to consider.

We have never been in the tax credit cycle other than being entitled to the child element - the constant worry about being over-paid credits etc was too much for me in the end and I opted out of them altogether.
Luckily we weren't in a position where we were budgeting down to the last penny, but I was more happy to live without some 'extras' than potentially have to pay back a load because someone in an office somewhere had cocked up.

I sincerely do hope you get to see a good proportion of the bonus, honest! But I have to agree that you shouldn't expect to see all of it (sorry!).

morethanpotatoprints · 24/03/2015 15:56

I don't understand why people complain of working full time and not receiving tax credits?
Obviously, you earn enough anyway.

It is a sad state of affairs when 2 people work full time and the government believes they still don't earn a good enough wage and they need top ups.

OP, I believe they make the system so difficult to understand so some people won't bother claiming.
I have heard a couple of people in rl and on these threads say this.
You have my sympathy, because it isn't easy to work out.

UterusUterusGhali · 24/03/2015 16:03

This happened to my family years ago when I had a dh.
He got a 2k bonus. 50% was taxed, so we got 1k. Had a clawback of more than 1k from tax credits. Sucked. :(

However, since he left he apparently doesn't have to declare it to the CSA. :/

Original poster
FuckingTaxCredits · 24/03/2015 16:05

yep banana if we are ever in the position of earning too much to claim at all, i will thoroughly enjoy ringing them up and telling them. i honestly LIVE for that day!!

as an aside i actually think that if the tories get in again they will be eroded and gradually phased out anyway

fuck knows what the lower paid will do then

starve probably

OP posts:
Original poster
FuckingTaxCredits · 24/03/2015 16:06

OP, I believe they make the system so difficult to understand so some people won't bother claiming

morethan so do i

we were advised a while back that we should be able to claim a small amount of housing benefit

got the forms they were like a fucking novel and they wanted our life history

i just binned them as would only be about a tenner a week anyway

OP posts:
notagenius8 · 24/03/2015 16:07

It is this complete sense of entitlement that is bankrupting the nation, and means those in high income brackets (no not just bankers) pay away almost half of their income to the tax man (till recently, more than half of their income). I really believe a benefit system is flawed if it is enabling the recipient to go on holiday (presumably your holiday was booked before you became aware of the bonus). Welfare should provide a basic safety net, not luxuries, of which a holiday is most definitely one.

CunningCat · 24/03/2015 16:10

If everyone was paid a living wage no one would need top up tax credits. That is the shocking reality.

Original poster
FuckingTaxCredits · 24/03/2015 16:12

It is this complete sense of entitlement

BINGO!!

Grin Grin

OP posts:
gamerchick · 24/03/2015 16:15

fucking I had that day. The dude got proper stroppy with me on the phone and insist I fill the forms in anyway. I chucked them out when they got here.

Personally I think 'they' just like to keep tabs on people's income.