Working tax credits

[claireharnwell]

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for advice for my brother. He has a 5 month old baby, his OH is on maternity leave (receiving statutory maternity pay) and he is working. However, he has to pay for his other child, they are taking the maximum amount from his wages (around £400, from a wage of around £1200) leaving them to live from £1000 per month. They have applied for working tax credits, but they are looking at last years income, not this years, and therefore do not qualify for working tax credit. Is there any way you can fill in the forms to make them understand that they need the money now, not next year, when she will be working! Any advice would be great.
Thanks.

Yes once he has been sent a NIL award they can ring up and give an estimated income for tax year 2018-19 and ask for a calculation based on this. if their estimate is under around £17k then they may get some working tax credits and if under £26k they would get some child tax credits. Tax credits do not care that he pays for his other child though, that is not taken into account.

Thanks so much for your help. X

Why is he paying so much for one child? My ex earns £550 a week before tax and according to the maintenance calculator he has to pay £300 every 4 weeks for 2 children.

He had a period out of work, so it's back payments I think. Tax credits have refused to send them another form to fill it in, just said that they are not eligible based on their previous years earnings. Any ideas??

You don't fill in a form, just ring the helpline and ask to give an estimated income for the current tax year, they can then recalculate the payments. Bear in mind he can also knock £100 a week off the estimate for weeks receiving SMP, as the first 100 a week is disregarded.

As it's close to the end of the tax year they can then phone up after 6th April and give an estimated income for 18-19, taking into account when/if his OH goes back to work.