Terms & Conditions

[peterdelamothe]

A colleague has sent me a cutting from a newspaper article which advises that where a tax credit recipient does not return their renewal form next year, they will be fined £300. How to encourage take-up – not.

Mind you, doesn’t it demonstrate how pathetic the HB rules are in comparison (recovering overpayments from convicted fraudsters for instance).

[Julian Hobson]

Peter – I was just about to mail FSU or whatever they are called now re “The Proceeds of Crime Act” and whether that allows greater levels of recovery in cases where there is a conviction in the crown court. I here it comes into force in June this year, HB regs may need to change, I could be barking up the wrong tree. Any thoughts ?

[peterdelamothe]

I don’t know the answer to that but I think it would be useful to find out. Mind you, the tax credit fine apparently applies to all, not just fraudsters.

[Julian Hobson]

I’d heard there was a minimum fine of £300 for failure to provide info, so I presume the renewal is mandatory and classed as a failure to provide info. Its worth bearing in mind that it could be £3000 see :

http://money.guardian.co.uk/tax/story/0,1456,795948,00.html

[Anonymous]

Isn’t this because of the dual purpose end-of-year reconciliation?

You have to send in your confirmed income details for the tax year just ended for two reasons:

– for the inital calculation of the new year’s TC award, and
– to check that you haven’t gone above the £2500 tolerance on the award for the year just ended.

The fine is payable for non-cooperation because the claimant is preventing the IR from validating the credit that has already been paid. I assume that’s the logic, rather than a draconian take-up campaign!

[Anonymous]

Just checked the Tax Credits Act, the relevant penalty seems to be covered by s.32(1)(b) & (2). As far as I can see, it’s a maximum of £300 for starters, plus a maximum of £60 a day if you still don’t reply after they slap on the first penalty.

For employers, there is a maximum of £3000 for failing to pay WTC properly.

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