tax credits underpaid- what's the most you got back

[damppatchnot]

I became self employed in nov 13 and the business is not yet in profit so salary nil
My husband left in August 14 and doesn't pay me anything (long story)
I initially told tax that my salary for business estimated at 5000 but my accountant put my self assessment in last Month and salary is nil.
When husband left I told them and my credits went DOWN. They told me that they will reassess and bavk pay once self asses done but despite chasing still waiting
I have a number to ring 5-8pm but nobody answers
Really struggling now.
What's the largest amount tax credits have back paid you?

if you are self employed you do not have a "salary"
your accountant should make it absolutely clear
and have explained clearly that for self employed people the 16 hours @ National Minimum Wage profit figure is the minimum that DWP and HMRC will will regards as being a business rather than a hobby

not sure what you mean about tax credits being paid back

if your business is too small to make a taxable living you are unlikely to get much help other than into employment

I will not be in profit until the capital I invested to start is earnt back. Tax credits are based on your earnings so they need to reassess my claim to pay me what they owe. I initially put 5000 on the tax credits claim as salary until I employed an accountant who said it should be nil

As talkinpeace says, they may not owe you anything if you can't show that your profits are worth at least 16 hours a week at min wage.

I'm not in profit yet and they assessed the claim with an income of 5k before my self assessment was done

With an income of 5k they would have awarded you the maximum tax credits so you wouldn't be entitled to an additional tax credits unless they haven't added the lone parent premium. You need additional income rather than relying on tax credits are they are clamping down on people who say they are self employed but do very little work (not assuming you are). You also need to contact the child maintenance people.

£5k is not far off 16 hours per week at min wage. updating the information by telling them you actually earned nothing, is not necessarily going to get you more tax credits.
If you look at the rules, then you'll see that to get full tax credit entitlement, you need to be earning the equivalent of a certain number of hours at min wage. Which you aren't.

I've just looked at guidance on self employed tax credits and re read the letter they sent. They will reassess my claim now self assess in which shows my hours working and capital / takings / losses
Hopefully will be dealt with soon

Business is going well it's just the start that's hard x

capital introduced has nothing to do with income for self assessment purposes

I suggest you have a really thorough read through the information page I wrote for ebayers as it explains how self assessment taxable profit is calculated
talkinpeacemepage.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-talkinpeace-me-page-as-it-was-before-being-evicted-by-ebay/

I've just spoke to them and they have offset losses against figures reducing salary by 10k last year and this year it's gone down from 12k to 3.5k
They can't tell me what my new payments will be or any back payment but hoping it's ok

Any idea what I will be paid?

My salary has been adjusted (self employed) following my accountants self assessment and has dropped 10k for 2013-2014 and this current year. I'm expecting the current payments to rise and one payment for 2013-2014
Does anyone know what I can expect?

you DO NOT HAVE A SALARY
what does your accountant say?

Earnings then !

Look, you just need to wait till you get the notification from tax credits as people here are not telling you what you want to hear

It matters because lots of self employed people mistake cash drawn for taxable profit and vice versa
they are not connected

My income was down as 14k and the business loss of 10k has been taken off reducing income (the tax credit adviser told me this) said I would get a lump sum plus existing payments will adjust
I just wondered what to expect

We were underpaid a few years ago and recieved £1200 in a lump sum. I'm not sure how it works with the Self employed side of things though.

Do you remember why you were underpaid?

According to our last letter, they might owe us £1200. We wont know for sure until we get our p60s. This is because I went from working pt, to being on mat leave, then going full time while dh took the rest of the leave and him working part time.

It's just took ages to get self assessment done. Just hoping for a good payout as since husband left I've been struggling building the business and running the house

I doubt you will get a lump sum as they told me they can't do this. What they will do is add what they owe to your existing and future claims each month.

I also think you need to tell them of any changes in income even as self employed, they usually only backdate 3 months unless they have made an error, in which case if this is proven you receive the full award as my first paragraph.

If you see your income reducing or gaining on your initial estimate you need to inform them immediately.

I don't think it's three months now, more like one!

Damp - dh was self employed and earnt nothing for a few months. This meant we had overestimated our earnings.

This was about 5/6 years ago though, so I'm not sure how much the system has changed.

If your initial assessment was worked out on an income of £5000 and your actual has worked out at £0 then there will be no back pay or increase I am afraid as you will already be getting the maximum.