A bit of advice needed please if anyone can help, HMRC say they have hugely overpaid us but I want to understand why and if its correct.
We made our first claim for tax credits in May 2017 as our circumstances changed drastically, we had never been entitled before. DH was been made redundant and I went on Mat Leave with DD2.
Our joint 16/17 earnings were £45,486, so obviously no entitlement.
When making the claim I estimated 17/18 earnings at £16,500 for me. I worked 36 hours when I went off on Mat Leave. We said no earnings for DH however he was claiming CB JSA. I was advised to amend the claim once he started working again. They awarded us £4283 in WTC and £5777 CTC.
DH went back to work in March, was very sporadic at the beginning as he now works self employed. Put this info on my renewal.
I returned to work in Feb 2018 as planned but reduced my hours to 24 per week, told them of this also.
When it come to the renewal I wasn't too far off on my earnings estimate, it ended up at £16,300 (with my reduction for SMP). My earnings were £13,700 and DH £2,600 (£687 wages and £1900 CB JSA).
Renewal was processed and said we owed £5906! I had to do a mandatory reconsideration as my SMP hadn't been taken into account. Now the final decision has come through and it says we owe £4311, mostly made up of WTC.
My question is what did I do wrong? Or are they wrong?
Also, it says on the Final decision that DH worked 10 hours a week and I worked 24 hours per week. This is only true for the last couple of months of the year, so would that affect it?
Our award to 18/19 has now gone down as we are both working and earning 'properly' again, joint income will be around £30,500 and they have based this on our actual hours and expected earnings.
Thank you in advance, I am sorry this is long but I didn't want to drip feed.