Contractors may have been amongst the people who received a misleading letter about child tax credits from HMRC recently.
The Revenue sent out letters informing families that the income threshold for child tax credits would be £26,000 from the sixth of April. That is the correct amount for families with just one child, but the threshold increases for families with two or more children. A family with two kids will be entitled to the credits if they have an annual income of under about £32,200.
HMRC sent the letters to warn people that they must contact the department if they want to continue receiving child tax credits.
However, experts think families with more than one child may have been mislead into thinking they were no longer entitled to this allowance.
According to the Revenue, it sent the letters to families who it believes will no longer be eligible for the benefit after the start of the new financial year. But if a family has failed to inform HMRC that their financial circumstances have changed, the letter may deter them from claiming even though they are still entitled to the benefit.
HMRC has apologised for the confusion and advises tax credit claimants to check the Revenue website for up-to-date information on entitlement.
This is just another in the long catalogue of recent errors by the government department. Most recently, it was in hot water for sending out final demand letters to taxpayers who had already settled their income tax liabilities.
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