Tax Credits and working PT

[thaigal]

Hi everyone,

After finishing college and gaining all the qualifications I needed to get a job I have decided to start work (or at least look for it!) after christmas...

My problem is that my tax credits claim as a single parent dating back to LAST January has STILL not been sorted out...my guesses are that it still wont be sorted by the time I start work meaning I will need to put in another claim before the old one is sorted out.

Does anyone have any idea how this will work? will I be left for months on end with no money? If/when they did/do c*ck it up will I be able to get emergency payments at least to keep us up to date with everything?

It's a bloody crime that people are being put OFF working in case it gets them into finantial difficulty!!

Thanks for any help!

(p.s I will only be working part time).

hi - in my experience you can alter your circumstances over the phone, although i have been waiting 5 months for written confirmation about my claim - they are paying it, and paid it within a few days of my claim - good luck with the job x

Tax credits... don't get me started.

Basically they will only want to know about a change in circumstances when it happens. I called them the other week to say I was starting a new job the follwoing monday and they said "call us next week when you've started."

Whatever basis you're getting money on now can continue until you tell them otherwise. Do you receive credits now?

I was self-employed until last month and was only able to tell them last week what my income (which in my case meant before-tax profits) for the 2005-2006 tax year was. So they have got go back and back-calculate everything. Since August 14th I have has six different calculations from them , ranging from them saying they had overpaid us by £6 grand to overpayment by £2 grand. It's still not sorted.

They won't leave you with no money, they'll just carry on paying you waht they ahve done until you tell them otherwise. Like Mummymic says, you can do it on the phone.

tax credits are a nightmare!!! you just have to be persistent though