LITRG Press Release: Contact HMRC urgently if you have missed the tax credits renewal deadline

Meeting the 31 July deadline was crucial for those who were told to contact HMRC to renew their tax credits.

HMRC will begin shortly to terminate the tax credit payments of people were required to reply and who missed the deadline and send them a Statement of Account.

This will tell them that HMRC have stopped their payments and also ask for all of the tax credits paid since the start of the 2019/20 tax year (that is, from 6 April 2019) to be paid back.1 If this happens, all is not lost, but you need to act quickly, says LITRG.

Head of LITRG Victoria Todd said:

“We urge people to contact HMRC as soon as possible if they have missed the 31 July deadline.

“If HMRC have stopped their payments, provided they contact HMRC within 30 days of the date on their Statement of Account and renew, HMRC will process the renewal and reinstate their 2019/20 claim back to 6 April 2019.

“If someone is self-employed and does not yet have final details for the 2018/19 tax year they must give an estimate and then either confirm the estimate, or file actual figures, by 31 January 2020."

If someone misses this 30-day deadline, they can only renew and secure their annual entitlement for 2019/20 if they complete their renewal by 31 January 2020 and can satisfy HMRC that they had ‘good cause’ for missing both the 31 July deadline and the extra 30-day deadline.

Victoria Todd added:

“If someone misses the extra 30-day deadline and does not satisfy HMRC that they have ‘good cause’ for being late, HMRC will ask them to repay all tax credit payments made to them from the start of the tax year.

"Now that Universal credit has been introduced across the UK, most people can no longer make brand new tax credit claims and so it is even more important that people act quickly to restore their claim if they have missed the 31 July deadline.

"The interactions between the roll-out of universal credit and tax credits are complicated. If a claimant misses the additional deadlines, we advise that they get some welfare rights advice2 as soon as possible and before they submit a claim for UC so they can fully understand their position and options for next steps."3

• For the 2018/19 renewals cycle, claimants had until 31 July 2019 to renew their tax credits awards. This means that claimants who received two forms – one with a red line across it – were told to contact HMRC to renew by 31 July 2019 otherwise their claim would not be renewed and their payments would stop. Each year, tax credits claimants receive a renewal pack from HMRC. The renewals process does two things: firstly, it finalises the claim for the tax year that has just ended (2018/19) and secondly it acts as a claim for the new tax year (2019/20). Even if you no longer want to claim or think you are no longer entitled, if you claimed tax credits at all during the 2018/19 tax year you should have been included in the renewal exercise to finalise your claim for that year. If you ended your tax credit claim during 2018/19 and claimed universal credit in the same tax year, you will not receive a renewal pack as your claim for 2018/19 should already have been finalised.
• Claimants can visit www.advicelocal.uk for information on organisations who can provide free, independent advice and support.
• If someone has made a universal credit claim and has their tax credits award reinstated because they have renewed within 30 days of the Statement of Account or by 31 January 2020 and have good cause – HMRC will reinstate their tax credits from 6 April 2019 but it will only be awarded until the day before the universal credit claim started.