Does anyone understand tax credits?

[curlygal]

I am very confused by the tax credit payment I got today, phoning the helpline didn;t help....

My payment was £200 less than I was expecting. I called them at the start of this week to tell them that my child care costs had increased.

When I phoned they said as it was close to the end of the tax year they will wait for my P60 figure before giving me the rest of the payment.

I just don;t get this. Can anyone explain?

need the £200 this month not next month!

No,
it seems there is no method to there madness.
Unhelpful I know.

Nope, frankly its the most ridiculous system in the world. Why tax people then give them some back via some archaic formula no-one understands? Why not tax people less instead?

I don't know a single person who's not been overpaid at some point. My friend rang up the tax credit people 3 times over 3 days to tell them about his new job. Each time they magic'ed up a different figure.

Its bonkers.

No, they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery. Everything they send you is incomprehensible waffle. Also it's grossly unfair. When ex-H left me it didn't occur to me to immediately advise them because I had other things on my mind and also I was going to be worse off than before so in no way was I claiming money I wasn't entitled to (quite the opposite in fact).

I did tell them a few months on and wish I'd given them a different date for our separation. They told me I had to pay back everything I'd claimed from the date of our separation to the date I advised them of the change in circumstances purely because I hadn't told them about the change in circumstances! Nothing to do with the actual circumstances! So I was £300 out of pocket. They are a bunch of fuckwits (not the poor people in the call centre of course).

expect they wanted to wait for your p60 as its so close to the end of the year. means they can give you exact amount rather than a pedicted best guess - unusual for them

now the boring bit.

tax credits dont really have anything to do with income tax - is why you can get so much back without ever paying into it.

i'm not particularly political but i think it was vince cable a few years ago who realised the economy was going pear shaped due to escalating house prices. he gave two options - cut house prices nationally by a 1/3rd or introduce proper income support for working people to help close the gap - is why tax credits count toward mortgages. isnt like we would want our house values cut...guess he didnt see that one coming.

they couldnt call it income support of course - tho it does exactly that - so it got the random name of tax credit. all the tv adds kept saying it comes from the tax man to make you think you were getting one over on the system.

no wonder petrol is so damn expensive, am so glad i gave up smoking - tho i do at least get a bit of ctc...am bored now