Estimate or declare income for Tax credits

s.17 of the 2002 Tax Credits act gave/gives the claimant the option of ‘declaring’ their income for the relevant year or ‘estimating’ their income for the relevant year.

We have a cl. who seems to have been turned down for a Council service because they have only ‘estimated’ their income for the 19/20 tax year rather than ‘declaring’ it.

I understand that the cl. has a fairly good idea of their probable earnings and has only estimated them because they work variable amounts of overtime and cannot predict this with any certainty.

I was thinking of advising the cl to simply contact HMRC and change the estimate to a declaration and notify HMRC of any changes in earnings as they go.

Does anyone know if there any ramifications about changing from an estimate to a declaration?

This is incorrect. S.17 is referring to the previous year’s income. This can always be declared if final, or estimated, if the claimant is not yet sure about his/her income for that tax year. The estimate has to then be finalised by the following 31st Jan.

Income for 19/20 will always only be an estimated figure.

The references to “current year” in s.17 are simply because the whole section is referring to the previous year’s award.

Thanks Charles, I had missed that.