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Original poster

Child tax credit - can I trust them when they tell me...

32 replies

Twinklemegan · 04/07/2007 22:12

... not to worry that this year's award is based on last year's income (with me on maternity leave) even though I've given them my much higher estimate for this year. Apparently the award will only change if my income this year is £25000 more than last year. I am really scared of using the money in case they want it back at the end of the year. Lady on helpline assured me she was telling me the truth. Logic would say to put it in a savings account just in case, but we really need the money tbh.

OP posts:
Mirage · 04/07/2007 22:26

I wouldn't trust them personally.I have spent the past 4 years,asking them if we will ever qualify for help with childcare costs,each time to be told that because we earn just over 25k,no we won't.

Last week I got a letter from them saying that I am entitled to £90 + a week towatds childcare.I have rung them 6 times so far,explaining that,much as we'd love the money,we don't think we're entitled to it,based on past experience,but they won't have it.I daren't spend the money,as I have a feeling that it isn't ours & on my earnings,it would take me years to pay it back.

Their suggestion to me was to put it in a seperate account & wait 2 weeks.If I don't hear anything,to ring again & check with them as to what is happening.

I can see how people end up in a terrible mess when they are suddenly asked to pay large sums of money back.

Original poster
Twinklemegan · 04/07/2007 23:04

It's ridiculous isn't it. Because if we can afford to put the money away somewhere in case they change their minds, we shouldn't really be getting it in the first place should we?

OP posts:
LittleBoot · 04/07/2007 23:10

I would believe them

I've been claiming tax credits for four years without any problems. No-one's ever asked me for anything back, and if they do I'll larf, because I've spent it. It used to be if your income rose by £2K it would be an issue, they deliberately raised it to £25K to deal with all the fuck-ups.

Mirage, at £25K, you are entitled to tax credits and you've been told wrong in the past.

They had such terrible publicity, they have put a lot of stuff right.

This site is good entitledto and I've found it pretty accurate in the past

Original poster
Twinklemegan · 04/07/2007 23:20

Thank LB. It's a relief to hear a good story about them - I've heard so many horror stories I was almost scared to claim at all.

OP posts:
HappyMummyOfOne · 05/07/2007 12:13

Cut-off point for help with childcare is £25,000 earnings, over this they wont help - checked it a few times and the websites that caculate also show nil help with childcare if you earn over £25k.

LittleBoot · 05/07/2007 13:58

I don't understand that, I earned over £25K 4 years ago and I got help with childcare costs.

Also I've just put a calculation into entitledto.com saying I earned £27.5K (I don't, it was just to get the illustration) and it came up with WTC and CTC award.

However, I am a lone parent so perhaps it's different if you have a partner. If you do, then you are still entitled to CTC up to about £50K iirc, but you wouldn't be entitled to WTC unless both of you worked ft.

It looks incredibly discriminatory against households where one partner works ft and one doesn't.

LittleBoot · 05/07/2007 13:59

TM if you are really worried about it, keep all paperwork so that you can prove they assured you the money was yours.

They are backing down on demanding money back.

curlywurlycremeegg · 05/07/2007 14:04

I have been told before that if it's their mistake (ie you gave them the correct info and they made wrong payments, you don't have to pay it back), this hasn't happened to me with CTC but with Carers Allowance and I ddn't have to pay back the ammount I was overpaid as it was their mistake. Not sure if anyone can shed any light on whether this is trye across the board for all benefits.

IdreamofClooney · 05/07/2007 14:20

Hi

I was worried about this too. My salary on my P60 for 2006/07 was much lower than my actual salary as I was on maternity leave for part of it and also as when I returned to work I made a payment into the pension scheme to make up for the 6 months i'd missed.

I am a single parent and was amazed at how much more tax credits i get now than when I had a joint claim (just as well as not getting money from ex on a regular basis).

I queried the amount I have been given and have told them that my salary for 2007/08 will be higher and they have assured me that the amount I am being paid is correct.

As someone else suggested go to the entilted to website and do some trial calculations on different salaries. On my actaul salary I am actually entitled to quite a lot as well (mainly the child care element as I work full time and DS has to go into nursery almost full time as wonderful ex cannot be relied on to turn up to look after him but I disgress)

Can I ask a question to other lone parents here? My ex is not at all keen on giving me any financial support for my DS. His reason was that he does not want to pay for my new house (I've just sold my one bed flat and bought a two bed house as DS is now 2 and needs his own room). If ex actually gave me the £300 a month I have asked for it would barely cover half of the nursery fees, let alone "pay for my new house" so I am pretty fed up with his attitude.

My ex has no idea how much tax credits I get and I don;t think it is his business - does any one tell their ex how much they get?

Thansk

expatinscotland · 05/07/2007 14:26

I never trust them.

The only way I deal with them is by written correspondence.

I post everything to them via Recorded Delivery.

Peachy · 05/07/2007 14:31

Ha ha ha what a load of creud theya re telling you

cut off point vary due to eg number of children

go t the calculator, find out what you'r really entitled to and put the rest away. At least there's a good interest rate atm that you'll get to keep.

And I second the recorded mail method Expat gives- I get a different story every time I talk to their helpline. We knew we'd been overpaid a few months abck, they said put in ana ccount where youc ant touch it for a year- good job we hAdnt locked it away as they reduced ouy payments the next week, we'd ahve been stuffed (I'm a student, DH 's salary isn't fab and we ahve sn kids who get extra WTC)

there's potential legislation being flitted about giving HMRC the right to obtain repayments through abnk acocunts without reference to the courts- as an ex employee ofHMRC VAt that fills me with dread, but especially wrt WTC as they regualrly cause cock ups then reclaim the cash.

Chattyhan · 05/07/2007 14:53

I don't trust them either! We had an overpayment a couple of years ago where they misrecorded the annual earnings and we didn't realise and now we owe them something like £4000. It was the first year we renewed and i didn't realise how the did the workings. Now all our payments are less because of it and it could take years to clear. In the mean time i'm having to live off less than i should because some idiot typed the wrong figure into the computer! I would suggest double checking this and getting it in writing as with my situation there was no way of proving who made the error.

Cappuccino · 05/07/2007 14:57

no I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them

I spend the minimum of mine that I can manage and put the rest in a savings account to spend on the next year's holiday

they are all dim and the story changes every time you speak to them

a couple of months ago I realised that they had my dd1 (6) down as having childcare, when it should have been my dd2 (2). It was their mistake but it was me who had to ring dd2's old nursery to get all her starting dates etc because they refused to just change the names over, I had to 'make a new claim' ffs

Chattyhan · 05/07/2007 15:03

They also had me down as working when i wasn't - haven't got a clue where they got that from!

expatinscotland · 05/07/2007 15:05

I do it all be recorded delivery because I've had to go to the Adjudicator and get both my MSP and MPs involved before we got thrown out on the street for not being able to pay rent after their catalogue of cock ups.

That way I had all the written proof of their comedy of errors and how tens of thousands of working poor families are the hardest hit by this absolute kerfuffle of a 'system'.

Any tramp on the street could have told you it makes more sense to just tax low wage-earners less, but nope, we've got Gordon Brown in office.

If he had a brain, he'd really be dangerous.

janinlondon · 05/07/2007 16:36

Don't trust them. I rang them in November to say our income would be substantially increased in 2006-2007 and I didn't want any tax credits. They said not to worry, it will only affect the next year. Of course now they want the money back.

charliecat · 05/07/2007 16:38

I have put in a new claim thats been rejected, why they dont know.
But ive been sitting here for 5 weeks THINKING they are sorting it as noone has mentioned it being rejected when ive rang to query

chocohead · 05/07/2007 20:53

Don't beleive them i queried my claim a year ago and they assured me it was correct, even though i said it seemed to much

Anyway to cut a long story short, a year later i am getting paid no tax credits at all, as they now say i owe them GBP500 !!!

Mirage · 05/07/2007 22:06

Hmmm,thanks for the advice,I will be checking that website out.

I will also be writing to them,as today we recieved 4 letters from them,dated 2/3rd July,one with the correct details on,but saying that I owe them 9p,the other dated later,superseeding the 1st,with the wrong details & the higher amount still on.

If they carry on believing the wrong figures,despite my phonecalls,I'll owe them a damn sight more than 9p!

Original poster
Twinklemegan · 05/07/2007 22:40

Well I know the income figures on the assessment are correct now because this is their second attempt. The first time they'd got everything completely wrong - idiots. I've checked the CTC literature and it does say that income can increase by £25000 before it affects that year's tax credits so that should be true, surely. I've checked the entitled to website which seems to reflect my assessment pretty well. So I guess I have to believe them.

I think it is correct that there would be no help with childcare on that salary Mirage. I get childcare vouchers so tax credits don't apply, but any help would be pitifully small for me on around £20k. The ridiculous thing is that if anything happened to DH I'd probably have to give up my job as I wouldn't be able to afford the full time childcare - mad isn't it?!

OP posts:
SlightlyMadSalmon · 05/07/2007 22:44

In answer to OP - they are talking bollux. An income increase of £2500 can affect iut big style under some circumstances.

Tell them your predicted earnings for 2007-2008 but =10%.

They do say of your income increases or decreases by a certain amouth (around 2-4K I think) you should let them know immediately.

SlightlyMadSalmon · 05/07/2007 22:45

Sorry that should be +10% not =10%

Original poster
Twinklemegan · 05/07/2007 22:46

It's crazy as well. Apparently if we were both working part time adding up to 30 hours instead of me working 37 hours on the same money we'd get £30 a week more.

OP posts:
Original poster
Twinklemegan · 05/07/2007 22:48

Oh please don't confuse me now! I understand that the rules changed last year - even the entitled to website says that. It seems crazy I know, but I really do think it's true about the £25000 actually. I have given them a high estimate for next year btw.

OP posts:
Original poster
Twinklemegan · 05/07/2007 22:49

And they know that my estimated income for this year is £10k more than last year.

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