by
Scally » Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:14 pm
Yes, it is crucial, they will take the full £55 for that extra penny I'm afraid, and have been known to go back years when people have fiddled the system for the sake of a few quid. If you can claim for a phone for your work (maybe they need to contact you to work odd-shifts etc?) then you can claim some of your mobile phone and/or landline rental, even broadband - I have found they don't quibble if it is just a few pounds a week and can be justified in this way - I work from home for example, so all my communication with my manager is on the phone or the internet. I claim for half my landline and half my mobile rental: about £14 a month, I cant be bothered to itemise individual calls, too much bother, but this might work for others: for example if I earned just a few pennies over the limit as in the example above.
The other way to get rid of significant surplus remaining earnings over the £100 allowance (after you have paid tax and NI) is to pay it into a private pension fund, the only thing to remember is they only allow 50% of the money you pay in, so if you want to reduce your residual earnings say from £109 a week to £99.00, you need to pay in £20 every week, but you get £55 in CA, so you end up quids in, obviously. The good news is that the government then refunds your income tax (if you pay tax that is) into the pension pot, and of course you are saving for your own retirement. It really is a no-brainer, but it takes a bit of planning to set up.