Child Tax Credit advice

[maca_s_2000]

Hi

I've just recieved 3 payments for Child Tax credit totalling over £1000 and I'm not sure what to do. I've rang them and asked them if it's right and they said that it appears so. I'm pretty good at informing them straight away of any changes and the only thing we (that's me and the tax office) can see is that my salary for last year had reduced quite a bit since I was on maternity for half the year, and my childcare fees almost doubled as kiddy no 2 had to go to nursery once I returned to work. But I let them know about the childcare fees and my credits went up.

I really need to know what I should do and what rights I have, as this money in my bank account is looking very tempting and couldn't have come at a better time for me, but I dare not touch it incase they realise they have made an almighty error and want the whole thing back off me.

Many thanks

[dw190]

Originally Posted by maca_s_2000

Hi

I've just recieved 3 payments for Child Tax credit totalling over £1000 and I'm not sure what to do. I've rang them and asked them if it's right and they said that it appears so. I'm pretty good at informing them straight away of any changes and the only thing we (that's me and the tax office) can see is that my salary for last year had reduced quite a bit since I was on maternity for half the year, and my childcare fees almost doubled as kiddy no 2 had to go to nursery once I returned to work. But I let them know about the childcare fees and my credits went up.

I really need to know what I should do and what rights I have, as this money in my bank account is looking very tempting and couldn't have come at a better time for me, but I dare not touch it incase they realise they have made an almighty error and want the whole thing back off me.

Many thanks

As long as you have told them (preferably in writing and kept a copy) any errors or overpayment they make of their own doing should not be reclaimed.

If you go onto the tax credits website and do a search for overpayment you should find this confirmed.

When I was seriously ill over six years ago the DSS was making two separate payments into my bank fortnightly for sickness and disabilityentitlements. This went on for two years when they decided to consolidate the payments into one. The total reduced considerably. When I enquired why they said I had been paid sickness benefit by two separate departments for over two years, some £6,000 + over the period. They informed me that they would not seek to reclaim it because the error was theirs.

[Bookworm]

You should be getting your award notice within a couple of weeks of the money coming on your account, so my advice would be to wait for now until you get it and then work out the numbers yourself. Once you know if it works out aok, have fun!

[maca_s_2000]

Will do that, I'd better move the money into my savings just till it's confirmed and might even make a few pence in interest.

Cheers

[leisl]

Hi i've had the same thing this year, extra money because of maternity leave. The only thing i would say is remember that this years credit is based on last years P60 so if you expect to earn lots more check the notification threshold they state on your tax credit notice.

Otherwise spend, spend spend!!!!

[maca_s_2000]

Got my renewal through and looks like there has been an error made, to me it looks minor but who knows. They have me down as 1 child in childcare instead of 2, the amount is the same though. I've rang the tax office and they said they'll send me a new notice out but if I ring back in a few days they should tell me if it makes a difference to my award.
This years reward notice looks fine as I renewed it over the phone so gave them my estimated salary for next year. But the payments have still nearly doubled to what I was getting, can't understand it unless something happened in the budget that I missed. Although I can't complain if it's right. I did check it on the online calculator and the total came out about £600 different but it didn't change when I put 1 in childcare or 2 so hopefully it's right and I can go out on a shopping spree

[Jhawc24]

When you have a child under the age of 1 yr you also get an extra amount on top of child tax credits!

[sequenci]

take a look at EntitledTo - your guide to benefits and tax credits

a rather natty website which has all sorts of calculation tools, it can help you fathom out how much is due to you

[sar011279]

Have just had the same thing. Turns out that almost all SMP that you received during your pregnancy can be deducted from your total income for the previous or current year, hense showing a lower income and increasing your benefit. You will also get the baby element which tops it up a bit. If you also work over 16 hrs a week you should get the child care element of working tax credit, approx 80% of your child care costs.
It is all a nightmare though and they do have a habit of paying lump sums into your account and then writing to tell you about it after.
Any over payment, as I understand, is deducted from future awards ie £X per week for X amount of weeks.
It annoys me that the person you speak to on the helpline can never provide you with correct figures!

[maca_s_2000]

Well rang them back and it's made little difference to the award in fact it's gone up by a few quid a month, and I am glad to say the money is mine.

I still don't understand it all but who am I to complain????

[meagain]

Originally Posted by maca_s_2000

I still don't understand it all but who am I to complain????

As I've said before, unless you were getting family element CTC only, those of us working there using the formulae supplied could rarely get the same result calculating manually as the computer systems spat out on award notices. It was complicated somewhat by the fact that if your income increased by a small amount (<£2500), the system would not recalculate your award. It doesn't surprise me that the general public at large has difficulty following the numbers, since us IR staff couldn't get things to tally even with all the information to hand!

[maca_s_2000]

Surely with all the press coverage about overpayments in tax credits and people having to pay them back, most of whom can ill afford to, they would simplify the system?

When I recieved my renewal pack it looked straight forward and I just went ahead and filled it in but then when I came to the annual salary part which should be straight forward there was soo much to take into consideration, I ended up with 3 different figures and completely messed up my form, renewed it over the phone instead.

[carapalida]

Hi

I had similar experience last year, I called them and was honest like you as I thought there could be an error but they said all was correct and nothing more come of it, so don't worry as you have been honest and called them which is probably logged.