child tax credit, working tax credit, so confused!

[CowsGoMoo]

why do they have to make it so confusing, or is it just me that gets totally befuddled with all of this? I got a letter from them last week after telling them that h has left me that I owe them £800 of overpaid money wtf? now have got letter this morning for period 01/04/08 - 05/08/08 saying they owe me £7.45 but the amount is too small to pay me, then another one that says they owe me £500. I'm lost!

can claim for working tax credit from Thurs when i start my new job, does anyone know where to go for help? they confuse me further when i ring them up. Had a lovely lady on the phone but she had a very strong accent and had to keep asking her to repeat everything she said. I gave up in end with migraine.

Help !

Were you and your ex claiming wtc when you were togther? If so then they may have calculated the overpayment based on that. Who was it paid to you or him? If him then it's him that needs to pay it back.

If you've not been working since you seperated then your new claim will start after that.

Go and see the lone parent advisor at your local job centre. Phone up and ask for an interview. Take all the letters with you and hopefully they can help you get to the bottom of them. Lone parent advisor was the best (most capable) benefot person I have ever spoken too. Having been a lone parent herself she understood how difficult it all is and how confusing etc. Hopefully you'll get someone equally as good.

If that doesn't help then try the CAB.

Gilly

Lone parent advisors can phone HMRC on your behalf if you would prefer this. I rang up on Tuesday for a lady who had brought in her award letters showing she had a huge overpayment. It took 2 mins to sort out once I confirmed that no, she didn't earn £40K last year, more like £6K.

We even have a special phone line we can use for staff purposes only. They usually bend over backwards to help (with one or two notable exceptions). If they don't, I simply ring again and am guaranteed to speak to someone different.

We understand how tax credits work and can usually work out where the mistake is and can confirm periods on IS, etc. For people starting work after being on IS, we can "fast track" your WTC claim too, so it gets dealt with as a priority.

Hope this helps.

Sorry to be thick, but where do I find a lone parent advisor? Is it at the job centre? Will they still help even if you havent previously claimed or been in the system?

Hi there

Contact your local jobcentrePLus, have a look here to find your local one.

Take all the paperwork with you and hopefully they will be able to sort things out. Don't let it worry you too much, if there is any overpayment, you don't have to pay it all back at once, they can deduct your credits by 10%.

Fingers crossed that they owe you money. Let us know how you get on

Hi,
I think they probably do owe me money. I just sent off my claim form as a single parent. My ex officially moved out at the begining of april, but in reality ended things back in november last year. Im hoping to get back payments until the april, that would really help out.
fingers crossed.

does anyone think that it would be fair for both parents to be able to claim working tax credit after relationship break down and be paid in proportion to the percentage of time the children are in each of your care ie if mum has the children 4 days a week she would get 4/7 ths of a claim and if dad had the children 3 days a week he would get 3/7ths of a claim rather than it all going to one person

You can already do this if you have 2 dc. You claim for one each. Assuming both parents are happy to do that.

Doesn't help if you have just 1dc though.