Urgent help needed. What tax years relate to my claim for Contributions Based JSA?

[redpersian75]

I made a claim for Contributions Based JSA September 2009 . Please can someone tell me which tax years should be used to calculate my entitlement to this? They used years ending April 07 and April 08. I thought that it should be years ending april 08 and april 09 as claim was September 2009 and as such falls 5 months into the years ending April 2010 year. Please help , help urgently required . I have been unemployed since September 2009 and have not received a penny.

[paulb1310]

They use the 2 tax years preceeding the tax year in which you claim

[kk3852]

For a claim any date following the first Monday in 2009 they will use the tax years ending 2008 and 2007.

 

Its the last 2 complete tax years preceding the year in which you claim (not the tax year in which you claim)

[GhengEnWu]

Same thing happened to me i was informed is 2 yrs before, and as was self employed and didnt pay full NI contributions wasnt entiled

[redpersian75]

I am really confused now as answers are conflicting. On Direct gov it says last 2 tax years which when you are in tax year ending apr 10 would be 09 and 08 so why would they use 08 and 07 or does it depend when in the calendar year you claim ? If they are going to use last skip one they should say. I may have to wait and try again after this April if that is the case when I will have been unemployed for 8 months with nothing coming in. I am at my wits end and have an appeal tribunal shortly . I wish I could get a definitive answer. Id seems silly to me as they used same two tax years when i tried to claim May 2008 . I think they must be trying it on .

[paulb1310]

Have checked and stand corrected ...

 

The relevant tax years are those that precede the benefit year in which the claim is made. To make things a little more complex, the benefit year runs from the first Sunday in January whereas the tax year starts in April. This means that the tax years 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 (for example) would be the two relevant tax years for a claim made in February 2007.

Still totally confusing!!

[redpersian75]

I am still a bit confused so if I was trying to claim in sept 2009 it would be tax years preceding the benefit year which would be the first sunday in 2009 in effect meaning that it is the the two tax years before January 2009? in which case I had better abandon all hope and cancel the tribunal. If I understand correctly if I were to make a fresh claim now we are now in the benefit year of 2010 being beyond the first sunday in january and therefore they would now use the tax year ending Apr 2009 and the tax year ending 2008? It is madness why don't they all use the same years?!!! Have I got it correct this time comments from all please?

[antone]

The tax years used are the last two complete tax years preceding the benefit year in which you make your claim. This is so that everyone who claims in any given benefit year is treated in the same way.

 

So, if you claimed in September 2009, this would fall in benefit year 2009, which started on the first Sunday in January 2009 and ended on the Saturday before the first Sunday in January 2010.

 

The last two complete tax years are therefore 06/07 and 07/08. Tax year 08/09 was not complete on the first Sunday in January 2009, and so is not used.

[redpersian75]

thank you antone that is much clearer now . I just wish they had explained that before I appealed it could have saved a lot of hassle . Based on those calculations I will be able to reapply now and it should be ok , fingers crossed ,thanks for all your help