Tax credit deadline expired
The deadline for renewing tax credits claims was 31 July 2016. HMRC has confirmed that around 1 million people renewed their tax credits online. This means that there were almost a quarter of a million more people that renewed online than last year. The 31 July was the busiest day for online renewals when over 44,000 renewals were made. The total number of renewals was over 2.5 million.
Claimants needed to notify HMRC of any changes to the family size, child care costs, number of hours worked and salary. Details of previous year’s income also needed to be completed on the form to allow HMRC to check if the correct tax credits have been paid.
Claimants must also inform HMRC of any changes in circumstances not already reported during the year such as new working hours, different childcare costs or changes in pay.
Nick Lodge, HMRC’s Director General, Benefits and Credits, said:
‘We are delighted that so many people have chosen to renew online and use the new web chat service. But anyone that hasn’t renewed needs to contact us immediately if they don’t want their payments to stop.’
We would strongly advise of any of our readers who have not yet renewed their tax credits to do so as soon as possible. Otherwise payments may be stopped and tax credits received since April 2016 may have to be paid back to HMRC.