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CTC couple separated mum advised she must claim UC
Hi,
I haven’t dealt with any tax credit related issues for a very long time.
I have a service-user who separated from her husband in April 2023 but it was only reported today when we were requesting HMRC add her 17 year-old daughter who is in qualifying education to the claim. We also reported the separation. TCO operator said she would have to claim UC and there will be an overpayment of TC’s.
P. 1443 of CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2023/2024 (top bullet) says “....you were claiming as a couple but are no longer part of that couple. Your entitlement ends from the date the change occurred, and you must usually claim UC instead;”
Does anyone know of any caselaw or anyway round this as her o/p will be c. £4,600. When it said usually above I was wondering if there are any exceptions to this? Service-user does not speak or read English.
Jim
Hi,
I haven’t dealt with any tax credit related issues for a very long time.
I have a service-user who separated from her husband in April 2023 but it was only reported today when we were requesting HMRC add her 17 year-old daughter who is in qualifying education to the claim. We also reported the separation. TCO operator said she would have to claim UC and there will be an overpayment of TC’s.
P. 1443 of CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2023/2024 (top bullet) says “....you were claiming as a couple but are no longer part of that couple. Your entitlement ends from the date the change occurred, and you must usually claim UC instead;”
Does anyone know of any caselaw or anyway round this as her o/p will be c. £4,600. When it said usually above I was wondering if there are any exceptions to this? Service-user does not speak or read English.
Jim
There’s no way to retain the Tax Credits but you shouldbe able to reduce the overpayment through ‘notional offsetting’ of the overpaid TC against what she would have been entitled to as a single claimant.
More info at:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-credits-and-benefits/tax-credits/what-can-i-do-if-i-have-overpayment
https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/blog/tax-credits-notional-entitlement-and-uc-an-update
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-manual/tcm0228220
Also, if they are married it will still be a joint claim unless they are:
separated under a court order, or
separated in circumstances in which the separation is likely to be permanent
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm09320
Thanks Tom B and BCD. This information from both of you is very helpful.
Jim
Just to say we had real trouble getting HMRC to accept notional entitlement could be applied after the move to UC but we got there in the end. Thanks to LITRG who put me in touch with the right people at HMRC! I’d speak to them if you get any resistance from HMRC on this point
Thanks for that information J.
Jim