Mandatory reconsideration

Hi We recently applied to transfer my child benefit NI credits to my wife, using CF411A. This was for the NI credits from April 2023 to April 2024, the tax year just finished. We received a refusal letter saying that we are too late, which according to the letter itself is incorrect - we should have until April 2025. (We do this every year, so aware of the time limit). So it seems to be a clerical error, for which we want to ask for reconsideration. It's my wife who applied in the first place using CF411A, so I'm confused as to why the refusal letter was addressed to me. 1) Is the reconsideration request ok coming from me? The refusal letter was addressed to me, and it gave me instruction on how to ask for reconsideration, but technically it wasn't me that made the initial request. 2) What are the timescales are with this? Will my wife just see an update to her NI record, or will we receive a letter first. If so, how to long to wait? Thanks

Hi,

The application form CF411A is the correct form to transfer NI credits between parents providing the main recipient of child benefit will not be at a loss. If you have applied to move the credits for the 2023 to 2024 tax year, you are correct that the time limits are 5 April 2025.

Please reply to the letter through the mandatory reconsideration process, it can be from yourself. Please include your wife’s details on the reconsideration letter also, with the letter marked reconsideration.

You can check the timescales for a reply here:

Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC

If you are moving credits on a regular basis you may want to contact the Child Benefit team to discuss moving the claim/credits over to the other parent to prevent completing a form for each tax year.

Child Benefit: general enquiries

Thank you.