Overtime & Child Tax Credits

[tiggerblue10]

I'm soon going to be working overtime on Saturdays up until the end of March. When and how do I declare this to HMRC? Do I call and tell them or do I wait till the self assessment form comes through the post and my P60 is issued.

Thanks in advance.

[Hopkirk]

I think it is your choice.

If you don't tell them now and your credits are overpaid, they will ask for the money back.

[DJHawkes]

they will reduce next years award by any overpayment made this year based on your declaration on your final statement you fill in in july

[tiggerblue10]

I just want to make sure I do it correctly so I don't have any future problems Hop.

Ahh, so I do wait until my self assessment forms come through. Thanks Dot.

[DJHawkes]

you only fill in self assessment returns if you are self employed and you can;t do overtime unless you have a contract with an employer, which would mean you were cards in. You get the final declaration in June/july, that's when you confirm your total income for 2012/2013

[tiggerblue10]

Ok. I've been getting forms to fill in for the last 2 years, usually around April but I wait till my P60 is issued before I complete them.

As you can probably tell, I haven't got a clue!!!

[DJHawkes]

what forms? you don't get a P60 when you are self employed as it shows tax and NI deducted as PAYE. I'm confused, never mind, I think you mean the form for your WTC declaration.

[tiggerblue10]

I'm not self employed Dot. Its the form about renewing my tax credits.

[DJHawkes]

yes I realise that, it's your final declaration form. send that off asap once you have your P60, your tax credits will carry on uninterupted but the amount will adjust if you had more earnings this year than predicted at the start of this year

[tiggerblue10]

Thanks for your help Dot.

[1eyedjack]

Certain changes in circumstances are notifiable to the tax credit office. If notifiable, you get one month to notify. If the change in circumstances is such that it reduces or eliminates your entitlement before means-testing abatement, then you have an obligation to notify within that month. If the change is such as to increase your entitlement before means-testing abatement then notification is optional but can only be backdated by a month so the deadline is effectively the same.
A mere increase in income arising from overtime work is not of itself a change in circumstances requiring notification within a month. As discussed earlier in this thread that increase in income would be notified as part of your annual declaration by 31 July 2013.
However the increase in working hours that gives rise to that increased income MIGHT be a change in circumstances which has the potential for increasing your headline award prior to means-testing abatement. This would fall within the optional notifications which can be back dated by at most a month and might suggest early notification. A typical example would be if you were doing fewer than 30 hours per week on average before overtime, but now increased to 30 hours per week or more.
It is also possible that your increased income in 2013-14 by reason of overtime or other factors is so great that, despite the income disregard, your provisional award for 2012-13 is overstated. More likely, your initial payments on account of 2013-14 when we get to next April would be overstated if the overtime continues. This could give rise to an overpayment of tax credits which the tax credit office would be entitled eventually to recover. If you are concerned at that possibility then you can protect yourself against overpayments by providing the tax credit office with an early estimate of income, well before you have a statutory obligation to notify.
The best advice in my opinion, if you are not sure of the rules and their effect, is to notify the tax credit office of your new hours and expected income immediately, whether you have an obligation or not. Keep careful notes of what you say on the telephone and the date and time. All calls are recorded and you may need to rely on this information if they act incorrectly (or fail to act at all) on the information that you provide.

[1eyedjack]

Following on from my last response I note that the OP is headed Child Tax Credits and makes no reference to Working Tax Credits. Working hours only affects the latter. That said I think that basically my advice stands, because a claim for one automatically embraces a claim for the other, in a single application.

[tiggerblue10]

Hi 1eyedjack and thank you very much for that information.

I work full-time (36hrs) and probably earn too much to be entitled to WTCs. I'm not sure what hours I will be working each Saturday until but it will be until end of March.