Tax credits news
Budget 2009
Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the following tax credits changes in the Budget 2009:
• The working tax credit (WTC) four-week run-on will be extended from 31 July 2009 to cover people who would lose their entitlement to WTC because of a move to part-time working. Currently, the four-week run-on only covers people who stop working altogether or reduce their hours to less than 16 a week. The proposed change will extend the four-week run-on to people who reduce their hours to less than 30 but are still working at least 16 hours a week. This will assist people who lose their entitlement to WTC if working less than 30 hours a week, i.e. those over 25 who do not have children, are not disabled and do not fall into the 50 plus category.
• The WTC regulations will be amended from 31 July 2009 to make clear that the four-week run-on also covers the childcare element, including for couples when only one partner stops working. Currently, entitlement to the childcare element depends on a lone parent or both members of a couple being engaged in qualifying remunerative work (or one is and the other one is incapacitated, in hospital or in prison). This change will clarify that this includes a four-week run-on.
• Working people without children will be targeted by the Revenue to raise take-up of WTC among this group. The Revenue will continue to expand its work with employers and Jobcentre Plus to help those going in and out of work. It will also begin marketing and launch a pilot using data from PAYE records to identify and contact potentially eligible people.
• The child element of child tax credit (CTC) will increase by an additional £20 a year above indexation from April 2010.
New Revenue leaflets
The Revenue has completely revised and redesigned the TC600 Notes that are enclosed in the tax credits claim pack. The new leaflet, Getting your tax credits claim form right, takes the claimant through each page of the claim form with explanatory notes for most of the questions.
Tax credits appeals - request for information
The Revenue has agreed to a special meeting on tax credit appeal problems and CPAG has promised to collect information from advice agencies, law centres and local authority welfare rights organisations. The meeting is likely to take place in June or earlier if we have the information in time.
Issues we might cover include:
- Delays relating to appeals.
- Failure to refer the appeal to the tribunal service.
- Request for an appeal or a challenge to a decision automatically dealt with as a dispute about recovery rather than an appeal about entitlement.
- Examples of clients who had settlements rather than being able to go through to appeal.
- Failure of HMRC to produce evidence of entitlement and payments made over the period covered by the appeal.
- Examples of complications where the appeal is out of time because it is more than 13 months since the decision.
- Late appeals but before 13 months is up – examples. Are late appeals accepted?
- Examples of legal points which you have appealed and the outcome, if any.
- Examples of cases in an administrative mess and where the ideal solution would be an appeal but it is now too late.
- Examples of appeals made against both in year and end of year awards.
Please add any other comments you think would be useful for a meeting to discuss. Please email Beth Lakhani at blakhani@cpag.org.uk, CPAG or call her on 020 7812 5220 to discuss whether you can send any summaries or papers relating to cases you have taken or with which you are concerned.
Would you like to see a meeting set up between welfare rights advisers and HMRC on appeal issues where specialist staff from the Revenue could be present and individual cases could be discussed?
When replying to the above set of questions please indicate against your answers the relevant question number.
Please provide your admin or direct contact telephone number and if possible please reply by 5th May 2009.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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