working tax credits

Working Tax Credit is for people who are employed or self-employed (either on their own or in a partnership), who

• usually work 16 hours or more a week * are paid for that work, and * expect to work for at least 4 weeks

and who are

• aged 16 or over and responsible for at least one child, or * aged 16 or over and disabled, or * aged 25 or over and usually work at least 30 hours a week

So obviously since you are unemployed you have been getting tax credits which your wife was eligible. I have never claimed tax credit and cannot be arsed to find out what it means but I would think its tax you haev paid but claim back from the govt.

"Working Tax Credits" is a modern oxymoron.

It amazes me that the Tax Credits form is simpler than the Tax return form but is more complicated to fill in.

You can ask for form TC846 to consider remission. However you were informed the award is only based on your wife`s income - does this mean your income was not declared on the claim form ? If so you would be at fault. If it is declared this would be down to official error but asking why you never queried the omission of the income on the award notice is a valid point. One point I cannot follow is if your wife works 27 hours a week then even if she is paid the National Minimum Wage this would mean the Working Tax Credit would be reduced but it appears you were paid the full amount. Also in a joint claim each claimant is jointly liable so you wife could be liable for the debt also.

You can ask for form TC846 to consider remission. However you were informed the award is only based on your wife`s income - does this mean your income was not declared on the claim form ? If so you would be at fault. If it is declared this would be down to official error but asking why you never queried the omission of the income on the award notice is a valid point. One point I cannot follow is if your wife works 27 hours a week then even if she is paid the National Minimum Wage this would mean the Working Tax Credit would be reduced but it appears you were paid the full amount. Also in a joint claim each claimant is jointly liable so you wife could be liable for the debt also.

I was under the impression that it was based on the previous years earnings and as I was unemployed I had no earnings. I never even got any benefits as my wife was working. I was told by the job centre that as I was over 50 had been unemployed for more than 6 months I was elegible for tax credits if I worked more than 16 hours a week . No mention of money was made, it was all based on how many hours I worked. It took them 3 years to get me a job on minimum wages.

The following is from

where are earnings mentioned in the above?

I think I will just go to my minimum wage job tomorrow and quit and my wife will go to her job and quit and see if they can get money out of me then. Pissed of Ron

Why would it be? The form asks for the *previous* year's earnings - when he said he was unemployed.

He was advised to claim tax credits when he got the job, so he did, and he filled in the form with details of the previous tax year's earnings, as it asks for, presumably correctly.

What he didn't realise was that having filled in the form, he should then have immediately phoned them up to report a change in circumstance - even though his circumstances hadn't actually changed *since filling the form in*.

The OP's post highlights the crass stupidity of the tax credits system. If the government ends up writing off much of the overpayments then the morons who designed the system should be personally liable. Not a chance of that though.

He wasn't paid the full amount. It sounds about right if she is on about the NMW.

This is where the confusion comes about. The tax credits you are entitled to in any year is based on your earnings in the *current* tax year. But as you don't know for sure how much you are going to earn in the current tax year - the form asks you for your earnings for the *previous* tax year. So your initial claim is based on your *previous* tax year's earnings, but this is only a guess as to what your entitled to.

You are supposed to report a change in circumstances - eg if your earnings change - but what most people don't realise, because it's not obvious, is that this means if your circumstances change *since the last tax year* (which they had), not *since you filled the form in*.

What you should have done was fill the form in, wait till you got your award, then phone them up to report your change in circumstances. Even though nothing has changed since you filled the form in!

Pretty crap page that, it doesn't explain the withdrawal rates.

Those amounts are reduced at 37% for earnings above 5220 (5060 last year).

The government have talked about writing off tax credits debts because the system is such a farce. Maybe write to your MP?

Hmmm Its perfectly logical to someone but definately not me.

You pay them back though at what you can afford though - thats the theory