claiming for working/child tax credit

[bassmonster]

Hello all,

I'm after some advice please.
Start from my next pay, i've had a drastic paycut bringing my salary to £14,500 from £35,000. My hours have been reduced from 40 hours to 24 hours.

I found out that I can claim for working tax credit and child tax credit. I have a 5 year old daughter and 5 months old son.

I have just had a look through the application form. In the secion where you declare your income, it only asks for earnings for tax year 2013-2014 and does not ask for your current salary.

From what i understand, my last years salary will not i will not be entitled to anything. Is this correct?

is there anything I can do to let them know that my salary changed and if so how?

Thank you.

J.

You can ask them for an in-year assessment because your income has changed so much and they will assess you on your new income rather than your last years income.

They will disregard the first 2.5k drop in income so they will base your new claim on having an income of £17k

Thank you for your reply PP..

In terms of asking for an in-year assessment, can i ask for this in a covering letter with my application form or is there some special form for this?

Not sure. My friend did it by ringing and just asking for it over the phone but they were an existing claimant. Not sure how they would process your new application though, give them a call to ask before you send the application form back.

Also try and get your form in as soon as possible as existing claimants have their renewals at this time of year which can make the tax cried office super busy. If you struggle to get through on the phone then first thing in the morning is the best time. Hope you get it all sorted soon.

Thank you..i'll call them first thing... :-)

You submit your form with last year's salary and then as soon as you get an award letter you call them with the new figures. They are really helpful on the phone ime.

Oh I'm glad I stumbled
Upon this thread' last year dh and i combined income was 31k, this year I'm on Mat leave!

Is it worth me ringing also? My basic salary is 15850 without enhancements and dh is 12650

Yeh just phone and say your circumstances have changed. They don't count the first 100 pounds of stat mat pay per week either for tax credits. So when you're working out your entitlement minus that. You can do the tax credits calculator on the tax credits website

Hello all, just in case someone finds themselves in the same situation. after filling in the form with last years salary, I was sent a award letter saying I'm not entitled to anything but then I just gave then a call with my new salary.

Ps, do not bother writing a covering letter explaining your pay cut etc, it makes no difference.