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TAX
CREDITS
FAMILIES owed
millions of pounds because of changes to Children's Tax Credit
payments several years ago are being forced to wait too long for
payouts and time is running out, claim financial advisers James
Cargill Ltd. HM Revenue and Customs are taking up to 16 weeks
to process applications and with the time limit running out in the
next few months there are fears people could be put off claiming.
"In the last few months we've submitted several hundred
applications on behalf of people who we believe are still owed
Children's Tax Credit from the tax year 2002/03. Only 12 have been reviewed by HMRC with four paying out so
far this year and now we're waiting to see how long it's actually
going to take. It's not fair on people, who were short changed
by the government in the first place, to be kept waiting so long
again when the deadline is 31 January 2008 next year.
We estimate that up to 40% of working people looking after children
between 2002 and 2003 were unaware they could claim this allowance
or were put off all together because they didn't understand the
taxman's forms." said David
McCowan of James Cargill Ltd, a financial advisor with expertise in
dealing with HM Revenue and Customs and the people behind
www.taxrecover.co.uk.
Under normal HM Customs and Revenue rules claims have to be made
within 6 years of the financial year against which the claim is
being made.
Children's Tax Credit was introduced by the Government in April 2001
and was replaced by the more user friendly Child Tax Credit in April
2003. Anyone who hasn't claimed but was working and supporting
a child during that time should either get hold of form 11CTC, which
should be available to them through their local HMRC office or have
a reputable finance recovery company do it for them if they want to
recoup their legal entitlement.
"When we tried to speed things up with a phone call to the tax
office which deals with this we were told that in the last few weeks
alone there had been around 12,000 applications for money owed. We are worried people will be less
likely to apply for the money that's owed to them if it takes so
long to get a payout. There's an awful lot of people out there
who we believe are owed money but there has hardly been any
advertising to warn them that time is running out to claim what is
rightfully theirs."
said Mr McCowan.
Families who have already successfully reclaimed the money for the
2000/1 and 2001/02 tax years are estimated to have received on
average £1,176 each.
Andy Hibberd, co-founder of parents' rights group The Parent
Organisation said:- "When Labour came to power in 1997, they
made some sweeping changes to the tax system which resulted in a lot
of families losing a lot of money. If there is a chance of
getting that money back, particularly now when so many families are
having to really tighten their belts, then why not claim it. What do
they have to lose?" |
Entrepreneurs lack support according to new research
THE North West
business community does not believe entrepreneurs are receiving
enough help from financial institutions, according to research by
Bank of Scotland Corporate.
Half of the business people across the
region said they do not believe that financial institutions offer
enough help to entrepreneurs, while 63% of respondents in the North
West also said that they believe that the majority of successful business
people have experienced failure and saw it as an important lesson
when building a business in the future.
The research, which covered all aspects of entrepreneurialism in the
UK, was conducted to coincide with the 2008 Entrepreneur Challenge
which will see seven entrepreneurs across the country receive £5
mllion, free of interest and charges for 3 years.
Tim Rigg, Head of Commercial Banking at Bank of Scotland Corporate
in the North West, commented:- “I believe it’s vital we
support entrepreneurs as much as possible and the fact that fifty
percent of business people in the North West don’t think there is
enough financial support is something that needs to be addressed.
Our research indicates that whilst entrepreneurial spirit is still
vibrant across the North West, entrepreneurs are being held back by
a lack of funding, which is why we’ve launched the Entrepreneur
Challenge again in 2008, which proves once again that Bank of
Scotland is the bank for entrepreneurs.”
The survey was conducted as part of the Bank of Scotland Corporate
£35million Entrepreneur Challenge, which will see seven
entrepreneurs each win £5million interest free funding.
If short
listed, applicants in the North West will be asked to present their
business ideas to a judging panel including last year’s winner, Matt
Riley from Daisy Communications.
Matt will be joined by other senior
business figures and will be looking for applicants with a clear
business plan and entrepreneurial flair that stands out from the
crowd.
In addition to the £5 million funding package, each regional
winner will go forward to a national final where one overall winner
will be crowned 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year.
For more information, and to download an entry form by visiting:-
www.theboschallenge.co.uk.
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