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Original poster

New Tax Credits

152 replies

PamT · 14/10/2002 14:02

Has everyone applied for the new tax credits? They start in April and replace not only the existing WFTC and Disabled Persons Tax Credits but also the Children's Tax Credit. Currently the wage earner receives approximately £10 per week extra due to an adjustment of the tax code. This will stop in April and you will only get this payment if you apply for it. I think it will be paid to families earning anything up to about £58K. Families earning up to around £22K will also be entitled to additional money in Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit.

See www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk for more information. You can calculate your entitlement or apply on line.

And no, I don't work for them but I do think that everyone should get what they are entitled to. My form went in about a month ago

OP posts:
tallulah · 16/03/2003 18:47

PamT. It's actually too late to send out new tax codes now for 2002/03 so anyone who hasn't already applied for Children's Tax Credit (not the new forms you've all been discussing) will have to wait until they get their P60 for a refund. It's best to still fill in the form though if you haven't already.

MABS · 01/04/2003 19:30

Has anyone still not heard? i thought it was starting today. I've chased them twice and all they say is that it's been processed and will be sent very soon. Wouldn't mind but, for once, I was organised and filled in the forms in November!

Original poster
PamT · 01/04/2003 20:11

I still haven't heard. I rang about three weeks ago and was told that my claim hadn't yet been processed even though I sent it back in September/October. I had to give my new circumstances and then ring back a couple of days later with my new PAYE reference. I'm still waiting to hear but I don't think they start until the new tax year which will be next monday (7th). From another parenting site I have heard that if you claimed WFTC previously your old payments will continue until your new ones start and any shortfall will be backdated but they have actually processed more claims than they have sent letters out for so your new payments may well start anyway.

OP posts:
leander · 02/04/2003 10:25

I still haven't receieved mine.I got a letter saying they were dealing with my claim ages ago.Can someone give me the number to ring as I can't find any of my letters.
tia.

mum2toby · 02/04/2003 11:10

I've had it up to here with the feckin' useless Bds at the call centre, but here's the number anyway. GOOD LUCK!!

0845 300 3 900.

The last time I phoned I was told I was being obnoxious and when I asked to speak his supervisor he hung up! CHARMING!!!!

kkgirl · 03/04/2003 09:20

It took me two hours of persistant calling to get to speak to a human. He reassured me that the Award notices are going out this week, but wouldn't give me a definite answer when I asked him to confirm that they had received our form. WE filled it in online in December. He just said ring back when/if you get your letter.
When I explained that our circumstances had changed he didn't seem at all bothered and just said, ring back when you get your letter.
Oh it will be so easy then when the world and his wife are also trying to get through as well!!!!!!

mum2toby · 03/04/2003 09:26

Got my award notice yesterday!!! YEAH!! We're entitled to £2270!! DOUBLE YEEAH! ....but NO

They calculated it from the year I was off work for 5 months on Maternity.... now my salary has gone up..

I phoned them and like you kkgirl it took ages to speak to a person who told me I had to tell them what I thought I MIGHT earn next year... Then I was told I'll only be entitled to £545 per year.

BDS!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

It's like "here's some well needed money... oops ....actually no. Give us it back"

I HATE the Inland Revenue , I hate Call Centres and I HATE BEING SKINT!

GillW · 03/04/2003 13:32

Has anyone else noticed that in the small print of the child tax credit documentation it says that income which is paid in the form of childcare vouchers is disregarded for the purpose of working out the tax credit? So not only is there a potential 11% saving by not paying NI on them (see this earlier thread for details of how this works), but it could increase your entitlement to tax credits too?

It's not clear from the IR site whether they still consider that you're paying for childcare if you use the vouchers, but if that is the case it might well be worth checking out for anyone who's above the normal limit to get any help with childcare costs (about £32k joint income if you're paying £120+/week childcare for one or £42k if you're paying £200+/week for 2), by less than the amount they actually pay for childcare. It could mean that you'd qualify for childcare help where you wouldn't do otherwise.

For anyone who's above the £50k limit (where they start removing even the £545 basic) by less than your total childcare cost, then it's also worth considering. For example, if you had a joint income of £59k, but were paying £12k a year for childcare, you would receive nothing without having vouchers, but £545 in tax credits, and an NI reduction of up to £1320 with them.

For almost anyone else - well at least there's the NI saving, which is still worthwhile unless you're well enough paid to be way over the limit where the rate goes down to 1%.

Bozza · 03/04/2003 13:47

GillW thanks - very interested in that. DH has had a 3.5K payrise but I have opted to take £280 a month in childcare vouchers and no payrise - all since we filled in the forms so we might end up somewhere near level!

Bozza · 03/04/2003 13:50

No actually according to the table you linked to further down we are firmly in the £545 bracket which seems quite extensive.

mieow · 09/04/2003 05:21

Well, thats just great.........My tax credits were supposed to start today,,,,,,like everyones, I suppose, have just check my bank and lo and behold...........no money!!!!
I recieved a award notice about 5 weeks ago, which was wrong (they had my total income as £42.75, instead of £2100) so i phoned them and explained, the man adjusted my income and said a new award notice would be sent out, about 2 weeks ago I phoned again as no notice had come, and was told that my money would still be paid even though I hadn't signed the notice, I still haven't had the notice and I have no money either..............GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mieow · 09/04/2003 05:31

Have just read my old award notice and it says that it has to be signed and sent back by 29/03/03 or the award will be withdrawn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats is F**ng stupid........considering I haven't even had my new award notice!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so angery!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone else better check that they have got they money

zebra · 09/04/2003 12:22

KKGIRL says (April 3rd) that they told her Award notices should have come out by now, but we haven't gotten ours, yet, either. It's driving me crazy. Who else still hasn't heard? DH reckons we're entitled to £4000-£5000, but I can't believe that when we only earn £11k. I'd just like to know where we stand!!

snowbird · 09/04/2003 12:29

zebra-we've not got our Award notice yet. Dp spoke to someone in March who said it was on its way!! I've been trying to ring all morning,guess what? Always engaged. AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Bozza · 09/04/2003 12:37

I'm getting really confused now. Should we definitely have received our award notice and if not should we be chasing it up? DH claims to have had his tax code changed (to take away the old tax credit) but I'm not sure whether to believe him because he has a company car/fuel benefit and his tax code is always changing. We filled in our form last year and have heard nothing since.

snowbird · 09/04/2003 12:45

Bozza, I'm chasing ours up as we got a new application form in the post this morning. We filled ours in on-line in January and checked they had it in March, as we hadn't heard anything. They said they did and we would get our Award notice shortly. Also we have had a change in circumstances (I'm now a sahm) so we need to be re-assessed. Good job I have all the time in the world to keep chasing these things up.....not!!

morph · 09/04/2003 13:30

I haven't got mine and they keep sending me out reminder letters! Even though I got a letter telling me they were dealing with my claim in february! I decided as it was probably going to work out at about £40 a month I would give them until the end of april and then phone. the lines are always engaged. my personal favourite was the ansa machine message saying 'lines busy call back' thats customer service for you! mum2toby see the pills must be working!!

mieow · 09/04/2003 14:20

I managed to get though at 8am sharp....... My money is being paid on friday this week and then Wednesday after that.

tallulah · 09/04/2003 19:31

We had a whole new application pack come through last week- even though we'd had the award notice. seems to be a blip as a lot of people have had these. Anyway, rang the bank today, first payment arrived!! I did mine on-line in September.

Original poster
PamT · 09/04/2003 20:25

I haven't had my award notice yet, but got a surprise early payment of my child benefit on monday, one week of the old WFTC yesterday and 2 payments marked 'Tax Credits' were listed on my internet banking statement as of today. These payments are slightly more than I was expecting (£30 more actually)so I wondered if they were for 1 and a bit weeks of the new credits. I'm still waiting for the award notice and prescription exemption letter (both to be sent from different places) so that I can then claim the other things to which I am entitled - and go to the dentists at long last.

I e-mailed my MP on Friday because I was so sick of the whole fiasco. Her representative e-mailed me back to say that the Rt Hon Ann Taylor MP would raise my points with the Treasury Minister and would get back to me. Watch the newspapers for lots of stories on the subject because there are a lot of very upset, very broke people around this week.

OP posts:
Linnet · 09/04/2003 22:30

We received our award notice last Thursday the 3rd of April. We're getting the child tax credit paid into a bank account and the wtc paid through dh wages. the first payments were meant to have been paid in on monday. the money into dh bank account (it goes there for a few weeks before through wages) didn't go in until today. I don't know if the ctc has gone into my bank account as i opened a seperate one and haven't checked it yet.
However I have a horrible feeling we may have to pay some of it back. the P60's that we had to give the info from being from 2001/2 have me worried. I had only been working for 9 months when I got that P60. so I only had a very small annual wage. however the P60 that I'm going to get this year will have a full years pay on it. Although I'm not going to have more than the £2500 limit I'm still worried that when they check, I'm assuming that they will do that, they might say to me oh you'll have to pay some of it back. Also I may be offered more hours this year and if I get them that will take me over the limit by the time I get a P60 in april next year. I'm scared to spend any of this money incase they turn round and say I have to pay it back, there is no way we could afford to pay back a huge lump sum if they have over paid us. I will of course inform them if my hours do increase but will they then claim back any money that they have already paid me? or will they wait? I'm very confused about all this and have spoken to a friend of mine who works for the citizens advice bureaux and even she is confused with the whole situation. She says the way it's all worked out is quite complicated compared to the old system.
I don't understand why they changed it in the first place. We were quite happy getting our wftc payments for 6 months at a time and then applying again, and a lot of people I have spoken to agree.(we didn't know about the child tax credit so we have never applied for that before now) I know this is meant to be a better system but sometimes I wonder.

Linnet · 09/04/2003 22:33

Also I forgot to ask, does anyone know if these new credits still entitle us to free prescriptions and dental treatment? I know we got that with the last WFTC but there hasn't been anything mentioned with these. Unless I've missed it somewhere.

anyone any the wiser than me?

kkgirl · 09/04/2003 23:14

I haven't even seen an award notice yet, and talking to other people it seems totally disorganised. One of my friends' sent in the claim form in November and has received acknowledgement of it. Yesterday he received another claim form exactly the same.!!!
Bizarre.

Snugs · 09/04/2003 23:21

Linnet - as far as I am aware, when you have a change in circumstances (such as pay rise over £2.5K) the onus is on you to notify the IR who will then re-assess entitlements.

I think the award letter (still waiting for mine) gives you upper and lower limit figures, and if your circumstances move outside these you have to get in touch. So (in theory) changes to benefit should be fairly quick and no-one should ever be massively overpaid. Even if the IR have to reclaim money from anyone, I dont think they are allowed to demand it all back in a lump sum unless there has been an attempt to defraud them, such as withholding information.

Snugs · 09/04/2003 23:26

Oh - and after an 1.5 hours on hold today I finally got through to them, to be told my award notice will not be sent out until the first week they are paying me (28 April). And they couldn't tell me how much I will be getting.

The best they could tell me was that, since I previously got WFTC and my circumstances haven't changed, I would get 'roughly' the same money + £45 approx per month in lieu of dh's reduced tax code. So.... 6 months of worry, hassle, form filling Government crap for just about nothing then!