# Notifying HMRC



## madmoari (Jan 14, 2013)

Hi all,
my family and i are moving to N.Z at the beginning of Feb and i just wondered what the best way of going about sorting child tax credits and child benefit are.
I have read that if you are going abroad you can claim for up to 8weeks if there is a possibility you may return. So i am wondering do i go then notify 8 weeks later that we are not returning? has anyone else done this? 
Hubbie is a kiwi by the way so we are applying for the visa after we get there as it is much cheaper, so technically for all intense and purposes we could be returning eh?

Also i have to send in the p85 tax refund form. Do you think i should wait and do it from overseas when i have notified child tax and child benefit to avoid arousing suspicion or just get it sorted before we leave?
If anyone has any experience of this i would love to hear it.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

madmoari said:


> Hi all,
> my family and i are moving to N.Z at the beginning of Feb and i just wondered what the best way of going about sorting child tax credits and child benefit are.
> I have read that if you are going abroad you can claim for up to 8weeks if there is a possibility you may return. So i am wondering do i go then notify 8 weeks later that we are not returning? has anyone else done this?
> Hubbie is a kiwi by the way so we are applying for the visa after we get there as it is much cheaper, so technically for all intense and purposes we could be returning eh?
> ...


Hi,
We didn't bother notifying HMRC for the child benefit. Not on purpose, we just overlooked that minor detail.
HMRC knew we were emigrating, knew we were leaving our UK employers and we had applied to receive our house rental income tax free and we also filed tax returns on that basis so even though we didn't inform them specifically they had the information.
We filed the tax returns from NZ and HMRC receiving my wife's was the trigger for them to send a letter about the child benefit and stop it. She received more than the 8 weeks but hasn't received a letter to pay any back altho we did owe some tax - swings & roundabouts !

If you really want to tell them wait till you're over here and tell them when you're sure you're staying.


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