Sent a claim form in for working tax credits and based on last years earnings we were refused. Fair enough. I'd rung the helpline and they said to wait till we got the refusal and then appeal for this year. Apparently, it has to be on the system first and this is the only way to get it on.

Got a letter back the other day after my appeal and it says "sorry, the event that you talk about hasn't happened yet". WTF! Er... no .. I'm pretty sure I did have twins 4 months ago!

LMAO Helen!!

I contacted them when I had Charlie, they said no. I was terrified that Id have money to pay back, DH wages changes weekly so it would be nightmare to keep up to date.
It sounds like another shit set up to me, Like Child Support and the likes.

Rang them back about the letter and told them my estimated earnings for this year. Woman on other end has keyed them into the system and says there will be some more paperwork coming out to us. Yippee!

She had no idea what the letter meant though. That's reassuring, isn't it?

Ok I worked on the tax credit "helpline" for a year. Any dispute form goes into an ENOURMOUS que and is dealt with in dte order. Last time i worked on that department it was 6 months behind and they are dealt with in date order.

the training the staff get was supposed to be 3 months but now you get a 3 week course. We have NO way of contacting the actual tax credit office. The estimates you are given over the phone are from software tht is broken daily and is often totally out of whack (i used to calculate my own based on my salary and it was different everyday) I would advise Anyone claiming to get a claim form and claim it rather than getting an estimate over the phone or have someone tell you your not entitled.

As far as overpayments go so many are being disputed now and with the problems they have had alot are being written off. If you are persistent you can get it written off but it takes time and red tape.

They managed to overpay me by £300. They paid my Salary.

I now work on the PAYE desk so any tax issues anyone may have i can try and help Self assesment and what not i have to do them every day :"( or i did before lil one

what happens if u get overpaid cuz I am sure I have been? do they send u a bill that u have to pay back or do they take it off you weekly or does it work some other way?

I think it's a bit strange how my partner and I, our combined income is classed as 'low income' when it comes to this 10p tax thingy that they've been talking about on the news, but when it comes to working tax credits we earn too much.

Matt has an interview for a promotion today though so Im seriously hoping he gets it othwise I dont have a clue where the £660 for nursery fees is coming from.

xxx