tax credits

[jerrydog]

Last year my OH was self employed and I worked part time. This year from April he took a temp job and I went on mat leave from Aug. I thought our annual income would be around about the same so I didn't report any changes. We have a disabled daughter and I understand that this exempts us from the rules re hours. However, I now believe our annual income may have increased by £6k partly due to some back pay I got which not expecting. I am worried to report this change now as worried will get a fine and also worried they will stop future tax credits as unsure how much difference this will make. I'm also still not 100% on figures for my income as on mat leave. do I report now or wait for renewal or at least until know my annual income?

You need to report it. You won't get fined. They will adjust your payments to cover the difference - so you may end up not getting much for a while, or if it takes you above the thresholds you will have to pay back the excess.

You can either report when you have the actual figures (bear in mind the difference might be bigger by then) or now with provisional figures, and later put in the real ones.

Whichever you do - if you ring them - do it first thing in the morning - much easier to get through then.