Don’t miss deadline to claim tax credits

THOUSANDS of tax credit claimants across Halton are being urged to ensure they have renewed as the deadline looms.

Residents have until Monday, July 31, to contact HM Revenue And Customs (HMRC).

As of last December, there were 6,400 tax credit claimants in Derek Twigg’s Halton constituency which includes Widnes, Hale Village, and large parts of Runcorn.

There were 4,900 claimants at that time in Weaver Vale – now the constituency of Labour’s Mike Amesbury – and includes eastern areas of Runcorn, Daresbury and Frodsham.

A HMRC spokeswoman said last year across the UK, 410,000 customers had their payments stopped or altered because they missed the deadline to inform HMRC of changes to their circumstances.

These include changes to working hours, income, and childcare costs, and can be done online or via the HMRC app.

HMRC’s interim director general of customer services Rachel McLean said: “We’ve made some really helpful improvements this year to our online and app services to support our customers.

“We know life can be hectic so the start and stop feature allows customers to begin and complete their renewal on a day and time convenient for them.

“It’s fantastic that 32,000 people have used our app and 733,000 customers have already renewed their tax credits online.

“I urge customers in the North West who have yet to renew their tax credits to do so as soon as possible, thereby avoiding their payments being stopped.

“The July 31 deadline is fast approaching.”

The spokeswoman added the online renewals system is now ‘easier and more accessible than ever before’. It allows people to track the process of their renewal, receive email confirmation, and removes the need to scan or type in the barcode number from the back of the renewals pack.

For more information visit www.gov.uk or call 0345 300 3900.