Milton Keynes Tax Credits

Do you work full time but not earning big bucks? You may be eligible for Working Tax Credits.
I’d never heard of Working Tax Credits until I visited a website on how to save money and how to claim for things that you are entitled to.
So I thought it’s worth a phone call to see if I could be eligible for Working Tax Credits, I rang the helpline number 0845 3003900. When you call them have your NI number to hand and a recent payslip. They can go through a quick assessment with you on the telephone to see if it’s worth you claiming, (this can take 10 -15minutes, but it is well worth doing).

After doing their calculations and if you are eligible the next thing to do is to request a claim form. They will post you one out, however I expected it to be in the post the next day, it wasn’t and I waited nearly a week just for the form.

On first glance the form looks quite formidable as it is A4 in size and quite a few pages, but not all sections will apply to you, and when you read it through it’s not so bad. Make sure you use black ink to complete the form as they scan it, and try and make it as clear as possible. It is also a good idea to keep a photocopy of the form as you may need to refer to it.

Once you have posted back your form, give them 2 or 3 days and then phone them to make sure they have received it, and if there are any queries (the scanning process is not very good and if you wait for them to write to you with the missing information it could be at least two weeks).

This happened to me I left it for nearly two weeks before calling them only to find they didn’t have all the information they required (due to the poor scanning) so I supplied the information over the telephone and was then told I would get an award letter in two weeks stating what I would be entitled to.

Two weeks and a day later I received a letter from them, I opened the letter thinking this would have details of how much tax credits I would receive and when, only to find a letter saying the following details were incorrect. They said the bank details I had supplied were wrong, so I double checked them only to find they were correct. I then rang the helpline to confirm the details rather than send a letter and wait even longer, although they did supply an envelope if you wanted to reply by post.

Whenever you call the helpline you need to answer security questions, which basically are your own personal details, like name, address etc), when I called to conform my bank details I was told I hadn’t passed security and that I would have to call back and try again. I was annoyed by this as there was no way that I didn’t know my own personal details and I was concerned that perhaps something had been mis-typed and I would have to start all over again. However I called straight back and this time (using the same details as before) I passed security! Very strange the only thing I can think of is, it was a Friday evening around 6pm and perhaps the first contact wanted to go home.

Anyway I explained that I had received a letter saying my bank details were incorrect and I confirmed that they were in fact correct, (you do get the feeling that the right hand doesn’t know what the left had is doing). I was then told that I should start to receive my tax credits within 2 to 3 days. This was on the Friday on Monday evening when I got in I had received letters from them saying what entitlement I would be getting. The letters are quite difficult to understand (and you can only claim up to 3 months in arrears) so I called the helpline once again. On getting through I discovered I had been paid two amounts only they had bounced back due to having incorrect bank details ( I thought this had been cleared up on Friday, obviously not).

I then had to wait until the following Tuesday (another week) as they do weekly payments on Tuesdays only. The following Tuesday to my delight I had finally received my tax credits.

So all in all I am not saying it was easy to claim, obviously the Government aren’t going to make it too easy otherwise more people would claim but it was worth pursuing. I now get weekly tax credits to help bring my wages up to a more liveable sum.

Tax Credits Helpline Telephone Numbers for Milton Keynes

The Tax Credits Helpline Telephone Number is normally a 0845 number which we get charged by the goverment to help us! So we have found the local number for you to save on your telephone calls. Please see below Tax Credits Helpline - Working Tax Credit & Child Tax Credit - National call centre