I'm so worried and upset and horrified this is ok

[pinkrosebuds69]

HMRC have just cut my working tax credits completely . I am self employed,.
I don't understand I sent them all the paperwork for the necessary checks . All early and renewal early along side my tax return 6 months before the deadline .

Apparently they "don't have enough evidence to support my hours ) and have cut them completely .
I only know this from calling up myself to check .
This decision was made with no call to me. The decision was sent out last Tuesday but I've still not received ( apparently it can take 7-10 days )
Until I have the letter apparently I can't appeal or even question it .

I am in tears , I need my tax credits to pay child care and for food I don't know what to do or where to turn or what I've done wrong. I can't buy any food now tomorrow for the week .

womble unfortunately it does happen like that a decision is made the money stops and the letter arrives sometime later. OP I understand that this would knock you sick.

I agree with the posters who say you can not do anything until you know the facts as you do not know what to challenge until you know why and there are sometimes mistakes on the award notice.

Why do people keep asking me what business I'm in when I've said quite clearly I'm in consultation .

I work on average 20 hours a week .
Some times less
I claim no income support . Didn't think I was eligible .
My child is school age as previously said .

All they have said is that there is not sufficient evidence and I've just spoken to an online advisor who says that means they are saying I have no working tax this year or last year so there is an overpayment hence why I have such low child tax on the new "new award " .

I feel sick . I have been crying for hours

Thanks for the advice to those who have been supportive and constructive .

Those telling me I have no reason to worry thanks but no thanks

You are not eligible for income support - that is for lone parents who don't work. Are you sure your hours have always averaged 16?

What sort of consultation only enables you to make £5 per hour profit?

Working on average 20 hours a week and making profit of £5.5k means you are earning about £5 an hour (give or take) so I am not surprised there is challenge around that.

£10 per hour before expenses .

You are not eligible for income support then because of your working hours.

What a nightmare for you. Please get some vouchers to get to the foodbank until this is sorted. Let HMRC know that the withdrawal of the benefit has led you to reduce your hours because you have had to seek advice and receive emergency rations to your household.

What sort of a society are we living in? All I can say is thank goodness the Conservatives did not get the landslide they wanted. Good honest hardworking people being demonised and sent to a foodbank is a disgrace in this supposedly wealthy country.

WHAT SORT OF CONSULTATION ARE YOU DOING?!

I said you are not eligible for Income support at the moment but if you gave up your consulting work, you would be eligible to claim Income support on the basis of having a child under 5 and being a lone parent. You may find you are better off although I wouldn't advocate not being in paid work for long, but as a short term measure until you can find paid work.
As others have said many lone parents get 70% childcare paid and manage ( albeit with difficulty) as you would get help with rent and council tax etc also.

The problem is OP that doing 20 hours a week over 52 weeks, is (give or take) 1,000 hours over the year. If you're making £5500, that's £5.50 an hour which is less than minimum wage. I hear all your reasons for being self-employed and a lot of them apply in my case too - I am self employed as it's the most cost effective way of working and earning for me.

Problem is, £5.50 an hour is a lot less than minimum wage and HMRC do have cases of people saying they're self-employed, working very little and claiming as much as it possible to claim. They have to weed out the piss-takers. (Not saying for a second you're taking the piss, but you see the point).

Income support is for lone parents who work less than 16 hours a week.

but if you only do 20h and your child is in school, you don't need childcare.

Hi Pink- it's the profit that counts and HMRC expect you to earn NMW so £5 / hour is too low. It would be good to know what sort of consultancy you do because one way to get around this rule is to have a credible business plan in place to increase profitability .

You're simply not earning enough under the new rules and it sounds as though they don't feel your business is viable/genuine with such a low profit. Presumably you don't pay any tax on your business with such a low profit? If so then the Government is paying out money but getting nothing back in return. Even with a minimum wage job you'd be paying some tax I'd have thought.

If your child is in FTE you'd be better off getting another job and getting the 70% childcare element.

I feel so sorry for the OP, its the same with a lot of benefits too, my son has just had his ESA stopped with no notice, even with all medical evidence, he has no points, and he has got worse,
I think this Government have a lot to answer for
At least people should be given a warning ,by letter
This poor lady has every reason to be upset,whatever the reason, she had no notice,so wasnt prepared

I should add here some months I have not worked very much as I was signed off sick with operations for a while in this year .

So yes I have worked 20 hours some weeks but then had time off . So that yearly profit reflects all of that .

If your child is in FTE you'd be better off getting another job and getting the 70% childcare element.

Or trying to find a part time job while trying to grow self-employment.

Elendon - look at it from the government's point of view. They don't want people earning £5 an hour self employed when they could be employed by someone else earning NMW which is quite a bit more than that. Of course they don't want to pay more in benefits than they have to.. I suppose it could be argued that they are paying less in childcare if op is self employed but in the longer term being employed by someone else will be more beneficial to them in terms of tax paid etc.

Tax credits will pay childcare and before/after school care is very cost effective if working 9-5.

They are cracking down on claims for the SE where the business makes little as the loopholehas been used by many to get maximum benefits whilst avoiding being in JSA.

For a third year in business it's surely not viable unless a second job or hobby.

But you said that your profit was similar last year so from HMRC's point of view you are either not working enough hours to claim or your business isn't viable. What sort of consultancy do you do?

I have said quite clearly info about my business . I do not understand why people are getting so uppity I'm not going to divulge all info on a public forum .i have done my best to work hard . Provide evidence and now it looks like i am in debt to HMRC . Flat broke . No money for food and no expect no house in two months as I will no doubt have my housing benefit suspended over this .

Quite frankly I am worried sick . Totally despondent . Worried about my "debt " to HMRC and how I am actually going to get to work all week with no travel money

I would think £5500 for 16 hours a week would be acceptable as you will be deducting a lot of expenses working from home, but maybe not for 20 hours per week. The NLW for last year for 16 hpw was under 6k.

Go and seek advice as HMRC may want a list of your clients, they may want proof of business expenses and you may need to show them how your 16 - 20 hours a week is spent and you may need to up your consultancy fee.

How often do you work less, is it always at least 16 hours apart from holidays, do they know you sometimes work less than 20 hours? If not they will have made the decision based on a set of numbers if you can explain those numbers they can put the decision right.

Still claim Housing Benefit now though as it may take a while and the Housing Benefit will pay on your actual income but will not backdate if you wait for the Tax Credit outcome.

I'm not asking you to answer these questions just think about them as this is the sort of information that can make a difference.

Given that they were encouraging people to go self-employed and start businesses to get them off out-of-work benefits, this moving the goalposts is bloody unreasonable.

The hours thing is really tricky. You need to be able to demonstrate that you worked at least 16 hours every week except for holidays to be entitled to tax credits. You may need to let them see your diary for the year!

If you're on housing benefit, make sure you let them know. Your housing benefit should go up while you're not getting tax credits.

Good luck.

I'm not doubting your efforts, I'm trying to help. To get the benefit you need to be able to prove that your business is viable. If you could explain the nature of your business (management consultancy, medical consultancy, marketing consultancy, something else?) then we may be able to offer you better support. I totally understand that you are scared and upset but if you give us some pointers we may be able to provide some logic / advice.