Tax Credits/Child Benefit Uk&NZ

[tyhapus]

Hi all

We're off to NZ to begin the new life on the 31/03 (not long now!).

In the UK we get some tax credits and child benefit - when did others in this situation tell HMRC that they no longer required them? I am on leave from my UK job for the first month after arrival - so my view is while I'm still paying UK taxes etc I should not consider myself "emmigrated" until after then!

Any views?

Also, when and how do you claim for the same in NZ?

And finally ..

What sort of medical/life insurance are people using - and can anyone recommend?!!


Thanks - back to the "To do" spreadsheet now!!

[Janey]

I told HMRC a month before, took them 4 months to sort out I also was told I was going to be referred to special investigations as I was leaving the country and had not asked permission! excuse me to be honest it is a nightmare trying to sort things out with officals from this side of the world we thought we had everything sown up be still had red tape etc 5 months after we had left. It seemed to us to be harder stopping payments, whatever than setting them up!

[clairelouise]

I told them a month before I was moving that the Child Benefits should stop. They eventually stopped them 10 weeks later, and sent me a letter to my address in NZ stating I had been ovrepaid and they'd get back to me with how to repay. We've since moved and to be honest I'm unsure whether to pay them or not. It's only £60 or so, I just feel that it's not my fault they didn't stop it when I asked them....

.....I'm just no good at things like this! I feel constantly guilty owing people money

I don't get anything here benefit wise. We are renting out our house in the UK and we filled in the form to not pay tax on our rental income, and apparantly this null and voided any benefits we might have claimed here. Or so I was told, anyway

[James 1077]

With child benefit you can carry on receiving the payments for 6 months if you come to New Zealand but only if you are not planning on moving here permanently (ie more than a year).

A lot of people who have children decide that they are only coming to New Zealand temporarily to see what things are like before making the decision to stay further down the line. By doing this you can continue to legally claim child benefit for 6 months before it must be stopped.

And enough people come over and decide that it isn't for them for one reason or another that you can't be 100% sure that you won't have gone back within 12 months - even if you have PR.

With respect to tax credits they are available in New Zealand - this link tells you more about them.

I'm not sure when your UK entitlement runs out - sorry!

Medical insurance-wise I'm with Southern Cross as we get a discount and a subsidy at work (and they covered us for exisiting conditions if we signed up within 3 months of starting at my work).

For life insurance we just got it through our bank as it was easier to do and OH was worried about me being uninsured!

[tyhapus]

thanks all ... i might therefore now be unsure if our move is permanent - if you know what i mean!!

[IanW99]

...
With respect to tax credits they are available in New Zealand - this link tells you more about them.
...

One additional point is that if you want to use the "four year tax exemption" option then you can't also claim family tax credits.

Ian

[Georgebulldog]

We told them a couple of months before but still received I think it was the child benefit for 6 months even though I said we wern't coming bac. I sent an e mail to the other place (tax credit) to say stop paying me & to pass it to relevent department & it just stopped after 6 months so I think they pay you whatever for 6 months, the tax credit was very efficient & was all worked out & stopped in time, someone else I know got it for 6 months aswell even though they wern'y going back

[nickydwuk]

I called them both about a month before we left. Child Benefit agreed to stop the Monday after we left the country and Child Tax Credits told me to call them a week before we left which I did. All was cancelled as promised and no overpayment was made. I was really impressed with them. I also called Inland revenue to ask about claiming back tax and they asent me the forms. As soon as we received our P45's we filled out the forms and had our tax refunds within about 6 weeks. No problem.

[clairelouise]

I also called Inland revenue to ask about claiming back tax and they asent me the forms. As soon as we received our P45's we filled out the forms and had our tax refunds within about 6 weeks. No problem.

I'll ditto that, the Inland Revenue were great at giving back my tax refund. I think it may even have been less than the six weeks! Talk about surprised though! I was expecting to be waiting for eons!

[Motleybeast]

We told them a couple of months before but still received I think it was the child benefit for 6 months even though I said we wern't coming bac. I sent an e mail to the other place (tax credit) to say stop paying me & to pass it to relevent department & it just stopped after 6 months so I think they pay you whatever for 6 months, the tax credit was very efficient & was all worked out & stopped in time, someone else I know got it for 6 months aswell even though they wern'y going back

Weve had the same trouble but at last our child benefit stopped last month (weve been here since October) but our tax credits continue to be paid despite a letter! (if you have an e-mail address for contacting them about tax credit that would be great as I couldn't find one!)

I'm expecting that we will have to pay back both tax credit and child benefit since we left but having read this thread is there a hope that I can keep some of it?