Hi,

Would love some advice, I'm a single parent in receipt of child tax credits and a phd studentship. My child tax credits just continued when I got my studentships and after a bit of research I gathered that that was because they are considered nontaxable earnings. However, they have been stopped in the last couple of weeks and before I phone the tax credits office is like some advice about where I stand. Obviously, as a single parent living on a studentship I'm really quite worried that I've made a mistake and am going to be asked to pay back these child tax credits!!) thank you in advance

You may need to check the status of your studentship. Some studenships are 'employed status' where you pay tax on it. If it is not taxable then you don't declare. Have you mentioned your stipend to them? If so that may be why your payments stopped. Some workers do not understand that it is in effect a grant. Going from the advice on their page I wouldn't even mention it to them so when you ring up just say, my tax credits have stopped. Why is this?

This is direct from their site on what income you don't declare.


Don’t include:

student loans
student grants, except the Adult Dependants’ Grant or any dependants’ grant in Scotland