Denied Working Tax Credit

Working Tax Credit (WTC) is a UK government payment that is made to people that are working but have a low income. The basic amount of WTC is up to £1,920 per year as of July 2013. It is paid by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as a supplement to low paid workers, but there are strict eligibility requirements that need to be adhered to in order to qualify.

Working tax credit eligibility

In order to qualify for WTC you should fulfil the following characteristics otherwise you run the risk of having your application for working tax credits denied.

General requirements towards qualifying include:

• You must be living in the UK

• You must be working and the work must last for at least 4 weeks

• You must be over 16 years old to qualify

• You must work a certain number of hours

For people that are single or in a relationship with no children:

• If you are aged 25 or over and you currently work 30 hours or more per week you may qualify for WTC depending on income level

• If you are aged 60 or over the number of hours that must be worked per week drops to 16 hours per week to qualify

• If you are 16 years older and disabled you could get WTC if 16 hours or more are worked per week, income is low and you already qualify for either incapacity benefit, disability living allowance, personal independence payment, attendance allowance, armed forces independence payment, income support, statutory sick pay, occupational sick pay, industrial injuries disablement benefit, national insurance credits or income contributory employment and support allowance

For single people responsible for a child:

• You must be over 16 years old

• Working over 16 hours per week with a sufficiently low income

Couples that a responsible for a child:

• Must be over 16 years old and one or the other person works 16 hours a week and the other person works at least 8 hours a week so that combined working hours per week total a minimum of 24 hours per week

• You are 16 years old or over, disabled and have a qualifying disability benefit

• You are 16 years old or over and your partner is a hospital in patient, is subject to carers allowance, is in prison or subject to certain disability benefits.

The amount that is paid in WTC is based upon a number of factors as noted above as well as actual household income, number of children, etc. so the end calculation can be quite complicated. Therefore, if you have never applied for WTC before it would make sense to apply because the worst that could happen is that your application is rejected.

Generally speaking if your household income is below £15,000 then you will receive full WTC. If it is above £40,000 then the possibility of WTC worsens.

Working tax credit claims

To make a claim for working tax credits you should call the tax credit helpline on 0345 300 3900 and ask for an application form (this can take 2 weeks to arrive in the post).

The phone line is open –

Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm

Saturday, 8am to 4pm

It should be noted that renewals need to be made at the appropriate time each year otherwise you could jeopardise your claim.