1 million tax credit renewals sent out in error

Tax credit forum has sent out this email -

Tax Credits Renewals

We recently told you that HMRC would automatically renew almost all tax credits claims this year.

Due to an error, we sent around 1 million customers a tax credits renewal (TC603R) that did not include some or all of the income information that we used to calculate their award. This will affect renewals for customers with self-employed income, income from taxable social security benefits, or other income (for instance shares and dividends).

We are sorry for this omission and for any inconvenience we have caused. We would like to reassure you and your customers that - as with previous years - the tax credits payments made since the start of April are correct based on the information we hold, which is the information we would normally use at this stage in the tax credits cycle to make provisional payments and renew awards.

However, to make sure we have paid the correct amount for the award period of 06/04/2019 to 05/04/2020, we need customers to review the total household income we hold for them for the 2019-2020 tax year. 

In addition, self-employed customers who have not declared their tax return for the 2019/2020 tax year must estimate their profit or loss and report this with their renewal online or via our webchat service by 31 July 2020. Otherwise, we will finalise their award using the information we hold, and they will not be able to change it at a later date.

From 25 June 2020, we’ll be writing to those who are affected by this, setting out all the information they need. This will be accompanied by other communications, including a message on GOV.UK. From tomorrow, we will send a text message to some customers to give them the opportunity to contact us in advance of receiving the letter.

If the income details are correct, or customers have already contacted us about their income and a self-employed estimate does not need to be given, they don’t need to do anything.

However, they will need to contact us straight away if they disagree with any of the information in the letters or they need to tell us about any changes.

Customers should report changes by completing their renewal:

- online, at gov.uk/manage-your-tax-credits,
- or through our webchat service by searching ‘tax credits general enquiries’ on gov.uk.