Better Off in Work with Tax Credits for Lower Income Earners.

Tax Credits where introduced as part of the Government's statement to make people "Better Off in Work".

The Trouble for a lot of users of the Tax Credits System it would NOT acutely make them "Better Off In Work" as defined by the Government.

Tax Credits are, (in away a Top-Up Payment similar to Income Support), for Lower Income Earners.

These Tax Credit payments are suppose to be made to make these Lower Income Earners "Better Off In Work".

Tax Credits have been a major let down for some users who are receiving Tax Credits because of a number of causes, which include: -

The issues above lead to even futher delays in processing the entitlements to Tax Credit Payments.

Quite often Lower Income Earners have a higher changing nature in their income levels than Traditional Wage Earners. For example they may work different numbers of hours each month, or be only on temporary contracts and in a situation where their wages start then stop rapidly.

These changes in circumstances are required to be reported to the Tax Credits Office but the delays in processing the Tax Credit Forms has meant that the changing in circumstance change even before the user receives notification of there Tax Credit Application.

This results in further delays and confusion as to which Tax Credit Claim relate to which payments and even whether or not the change in circumstance is being processed.

The Tax Credits Office is demanding payment because of error's in Tax Credits, (most of which are outlined above), which are beyond the receiver of Tax Credits control.

Better off in Work. Are You? The Minimum Wage Level.
The "Better Off in Work" Level. Minimum Wage Level with and additional payment of Tax Credits.
The Minimum Wage Level with and additional payment of Tax Credits minus the Repayments.

No longer obtaining "Better Off in Work" level of income, when compared with full Tax Credits.

If Tax credits are reduced, or stopped because of the demand for repayments of those Tax Credits due to errors then these Lower Income Earners are no longer "Better off in Work" as defend by the Government.

So much for making it "Better off in Work" !!!

This is particularly significant when Tax Credits where issued with the aim of:-

Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC) were introduced in April 2003 and replaced Working Families’ Tax Credit, Disabled Person’s Tax Credit and Children’s Tax Credit, as well as some other forms of financial support for families with children. For the first time, WTC also extended in-work financial support to families without children or a disability. The aims of the tax credits were set out in Budget 2002, and are as follows:

supporting families with children, recognising the responsibilities that come with parenthood;

tackling child poverty, by offering the greatest help to those most in need, such as low-income families;

helping to make sure that work pays more than welfare and that people have incentives to move up the earnings ladder.

Therefore the recovery of any overpayment  implies that these people will not get the level of income, (after repayment), that they and their Children require to fully Tackle Child Poverty as defined by the Government.

Solving the poverty riddle. Today's official numbers on child poverty are the most depressing since Labour came to office. For the first time since Tony Blair's historic pledge in 1999 to end child poverty within a generation, the number of children living in poverty in the UK went up in the latest year for which data is available, for the period April 2005 to March 2006.

PLEASE NOTE: Take independent legal advice before taking any actions.

Basics: Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit were introduced in April to replace Working Families' Tax Credit which many families relied upon to make ends meet.

HM Revenue & Customs: Tax Credits The HM Revenue & Customs Tax Credit pages featuring information on the tax credits available to you.

Tax Credits are a Political Issue and at this time a General Election could be due soon. Therefore greater Pressure could be put on the Government to Change The Tax Credits System to something that helps Lower Income Earnings instead of punishing them!!

Alphabetical List of Members of Parliament  Contact your own Member of Parliament let them know that you have/are having problems

Sign the Petition On-Line  Amnesty for Victims of the Tax Credit Overpayment Farce.

Biggest Tax Credits Pay out Ever. And on Time!!!

Tax Credit Scandal Blog Covers Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits. This Blog is for people whom have/are suffering because of the Tax Credit System. It covers both Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits. The posts on this page are for users to post there own experiences of the Tax Credits System. These could be the good, the bad and the shocking. Please add your own experiences of the Tax Credits System.

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