URGENT SOO confused :(

**adele1985** · 22-10-2012, 12:35 PM

Im getting myself very confused with my working tax credits lol can someone pleae help

ive been working my income out for tax credits as i had a change in circumstances (i worked it out to include the tax credits)

just been on the phone and asked if this was right and they say no its not lol i need to workout my profit not including the tax credits i recieve

just donr this by adding up all the tax credits ive recived this year and deducting it from my estimated profit

this only comes to just over £400 for the full year once ive deducted the business outgoings (petrol, insurance,food ect)

i only work 23 hours does this sound right to you just before i phone them with this figure - im concerned i may not get any tax credit with my income being soo low but i rely on them to pay the bills each month

please help

**NI MINDER** · 22-10-2012, 12:42 PM

Hi - tax credits is a benefit you receive - it has nothing to do with your income that you put through for tax purposes etc for your business accounts. You can go through the tax credit calculator and put your details in to get an estimate of what you are entitled to. HMRC Tax Credits - Tax credits calculator, Tax credits calculator

**dette** · 22-10-2012, 12:44 PM

is that 23 hours total for the year or per month/week ? you need your actual earnings and actual expenses for your tax return anyway so you will have to work it out propperly.£400 doesnt sound like alot to earn ..its usally approx 1/3 earnings 2/3 expenses but this is just a rough average and varies alot from childminder to childminder.look again at your monthly income and ependiture ,and work out your totals.Tax credits are only interested in your total profit,its not unheard of to have such a small income in your first year as setting up costs can mount up ,but make sure you have your reciepts as HMRC might question it

**adele1985** · 22-10-2012, 01:00 PM

hi

i work 26 hours a week (3 days before school so lets say around 6 hours for that) and 2 full days (20 hours)

i get around 400 a month (before taking my outgoings off)

id say i get around 200 a month profit

so that would be 1200 from now until april then i would add to that my profit for the priviouse months (april 2012 until october 2012???)

or would i add up what tax credits i have got up until now and deduct them from the figure i have told tax credits i earn ???

getting more confused by the second

**jillplum** · 22-10-2012, 01:13 PM

Right start from the beginning. from April 2012 add up your EARNED income from childminding then take off your childminding expenses. Then from now till April 2013 estimate your earned income and expenses to give an estimated profit. Add actual profit for April 2012 to October 2012 to your estimated profit for November 2012 to End of March 2013. this total is your estimated Earned income for the year April 2012 to March 2013. The Tax crdits office will use this figure to calculate how much tax credits you will receive. If your income goes down your tax credits will usually go up.
have I made it any clearer? it's hard to explain when writing it down.

**FussyElmo** · 22-10-2012, 01:16 PM

Firstly you do not add your tax credits to ANY figure so disreguard any figures including tax credits.

So now estimate what you will be earning from april 2012 to april 2013 and estimate your outgoings. so you think you will earned 400 a month. Its 12 x 400(you say you earn this) which is 4800. If you think 200 on expenses then its 12 x 200 which is 2400 so your profit is 2400. Remember if you over estimate they will ask for the overrepayment back

**adele1985** · 22-10-2012, 03:44 PM

thanks girls

i think ive done it right in the end it was more like 1400 i had made - it only took most of the day to work out

phoned tax credits and told them - they asked how much my partner earns (were both self employed and he earns less than me) her repose was well what other income do you get thats not much ..... erm the only other income i get is tax credits.....worried we wont be entitled to it now

**dette** · 22-10-2012, 04:57 PM

dont worry.... it goes on hours worked and for their benefit you could add your time spent doin paperwork to the total which will be over the limit,cant remember if its 30 hour each or total between you and DH.youll be fine

**Goatgirl** · 22-10-2012, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by adele1985

hi

i work 26 hours a week (3 days before school so lets say around 6 hours for that) and 2 full days (20 hours)

i get around 400 a month (before taking my outgoings off)

id say i get around 200 a month profit

Ok then, so your expenses are around 50% of your income.

so that would be 1200 from now until april yep then i would add to that my profit for the priviouse months (april 2012 until october 2012???) also, yes

or would i add up what tax credits i have got up until now No. Your tax credits do not count as part of your income because they are a form of benefit. and deduct them from the figure i have told tax credits i earn ???

getting more confused by the second

Hope this helps a bit

**balijay** · 23-10-2012, 12:43 PM

Hope I don't confuse the thread further, but has anyone been on the entitledto website (calculates what benefits you should be getting) recently? I was having a play on there at the weekend and there is a box to tick if you are a childminder. The notes say that special rules apply to childminders and 2/3 of income is automatically disregarded. My tax credits haven't been worked out like this - I just told them what my net profit was (about 50% of what I earned). Anyone know any more about this?

**FussyElmo** · 23-10-2012, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by balijay

Hope I don't confuse the thread further, but has anyone been on the entitledto website (calculates what benefits you should be getting) recently? I was having a play on there at the weekend and there is a box to tick if you are a childminder. The notes say that special rules apply to childminders and 2/3 of income is automatically disregarded. My tax credits haven't been worked out like this - I just told them what my net profit was (about 50% of what I earned). Anyone know any more about this?

Tax credits dont disreguard the 2/3 of income they want to know your profit on everything

I think (well it used to be) only for income support. I know when I first started out the job centre worked out I was actually better off on the tax credit route. Also remember you have to not earn over a certain amount to get income support

**jillplum** · 23-10-2012, 01:27 PM

I do vaguely remember being told that there are special benefit rules for childminders. it wasn't tax ccredits. I think it was Council Tax benefit. I may be imagining that of course.

**balijay** · 23-10-2012, 02:31 PM

Ok so I went back and had another read and yes the 2/3 rule doesn't apply to tax credits. Sorry. Ignore me

**Goatgirl** · 23-10-2012, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by balijay

Ok so I went back and had another read and yes the 2/3 rule doesn't apply to tax credits. Sorry. Ignore me

As far as I know its for Income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit. Definitely not tax credits. But maybe for some others I don't know about