Another tax credit worry......

[ssd]

I've found out we will lose tax credits by £50 a week next year, as well as child benefit for eldest child.

Now I'm worrying that if I earn too much (am trying to do any overtime offered as it'll stop soon) and have to pay tax credits back to them, how the hell will they collect it, if I get nothing from them?

How much a week can I lose before we go under??

beyond worried.

Find out what the thesholds are and if you think you've gone over it with your earnings this year then try to put some aside to cover the inevitable overpayment. When we had an overpayment many years ago they sent us a demand for £900 but we rang and arrnaged a payment repayment plan over 3 years. There will no doubt be a lot of people overpayed next year for a few months when the thresholds drop and some people are no longer entitled but don't find that out until they renew.

Just to add- if you get nothing from them next year, you have to just set up a direct debit from your bank account, well that's what I did anyway. I think I payed back £25 a month for 3 years until it was paid off !

this is what worries me, the bank account will be dry enough without paying back an overpayment!!

this is a nightmare!

Yes it is a nightmare. When we had the £900 overpayment dropped on us a few months after we ceased to get any tax credits, we were in a bad way financially with 4 young kids and me doing as much overtime as was possible. I remember getting about seven brown envelopes drop through the door and mostly demanding we repay £800 within a couple of months. I rang up and rememeber crying on the phone ( embarrassing I know!), saying we could not pay back the whole sum within a few weeks. To be fair they were very understanding, asked how much we could realistically pay back a month and we agreed on £25 a month. I then paid that for 3 years. Our overpayment occurred because like you I did overtime and could never really predict how much i would be paid in any month. This was quite a few years ago now as we haven't recieved tax credits for many years. I'm not sure whether their repayment syatem has changed now.

How old is your eldest child? Are you sure the tax credits will stop. They are paid up to age 20 if in full time non advanced education.

A few figures ,couple with two children ,both working

Income losses
5000 552
6000 1032
7000 1512
8000 1992
9000 2472
10000 2952
11000 3432
12000 3912
12125 3972

So if near £12,125 earned this year ,I would tell them now ,in April it will be overpayment .

I can see loads of overpayments ,rang tax credits last month ,lady told me they haven't got new details on system yet .

The post above is for working tax credit only ,income for the year and losses for working tax credit .

andnowitsseven, he wants to go to uni in a years time so will be leaving school in may