Dealing with tax credit overpayments

[enaid]

If you’ve received a letter saying you’ve
been overpaid tax credits and demanding
repayment you are likely to be confused,
worried, and stressed. You may be angry
about the system, or at least the failures of it. Here is some advice

http://www.advicenow.org.uk/adviceno...-overpayments/

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

Thanks, Enaid. Just seen this. :yo: :yo: :yo:

I've been arguing over an alleged tax credits overpayment for nearly 2 years!

[Rebecca01]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

You are right these kind of issues really makes you feel bad because they don't understand or agree with their mistake they just want you to pay these overdue charges.

[dizzyking]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

NOT SURE IF YOU ALREADY HAVE THIS ON SITE, BUT JUST IN CASE HERE IS A LINK, THE LIMITATIONS ACT 1980 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/dmbm595080.htm

[Scigal]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

Thanks, Enaid. Just seen this. :yo: :yo: :yo:

I've been arguing over an alleged tax credits overpayment for nearly 2 years!

Me too. For 3 yrs, letters go back and forth, they claim to not have evidence of my phone call to change my circs. Just get DCA letters all the time. Awful.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

Me too. For 3 yrs, letters go back and forth, they claim to not have evidence of my phone call to change my circs. Just get DCA letters all the time. Awful.

That's always the problem with phone calls, you are left with no evidence to prove anything.

Although not strictly relevant to this subject, an extreme example of the above was a poster on another forum who set up a repayment plan for a loan over the phone in 2000, hone: when the creditor agreed to freeze interest. Can't remember how much the loan was but it would have been under £5k. After 12 years of making payments every month, they received a statement of account showing an outstanding balance of £24k!!! :scared: :scared: :scared: It turns out they hadn't frozen interest, but they had no evidence they had agreed to do so all those years ago!

In my case, there was no change in circumstances, I just claimed for the first year (during which circumstances DIDN'T change), didn't renew the claim as I didn't think I'd be entitled, hence I can't see where the alleged overpayment came from. :noidea:

I managed to get rid of Advantis by sending them a copy of my complaint letter to HMRC, which I did before Xmas last year. Not heard a peep since then. :tinysmile_kiss_t4:

[Amethyst]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

FP, that'll be why you had an overpayment. Stupid system I know. If you claimed, had payments for a year, then didn't give your details at the end of the year in your renewal pack, you end up with an overpayment. I usually have overpayments for one year or other in my award notice, I just give them the P60 info each year. Problem is pay goes up and down each year depending on overtime etc and we're in that irritating average bracket of around £28 to 34k. In the past Ive had overpayments of thousands and its really not easy to work out why, probably got some threads on here from 2008.

Any overpayments now just come off my weekly award so I don't notice it, I think they are taking £20 a week this year but who knows really, they don't break it down on those insanely long, plain English but far too complicated award notices they send out.

Personally I just want to know how much I'll be getting in my PO account each Wednesday lol.

[Scigal]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

Thing is, they sent me a letter within a couple of days stating the had indeed stopped the payments as from the day before i called them. So clearly communication was made between us.

I did send a letter too about 6 weeks later to make sure there was paper evidence, but they are claiming thats the first they knew of it.

[kerry1974]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

i need advice please, i have just received a letter regarding a may be overpayment of child tax credit, i am a single mother of three, my oldest daughter was 16 back in 2012 and when she finished school she went into full time education at this point the tax credits asked for the information witch i sent, un be known to me my daughter wasnt going to collage, and i found this out back in september 2013 she finished the course in january 2013,, i no i was wrong now but never thought about it at the time to let them no, in novemeber 2013 i added my son to the tax credits and told them my change in circumstances about my daughter, so i carried on with normal life but never noticed that they had not acted on me reporting the change, as the money goes in and then out to pay bills as i am on a low income, it wasnt until the renewal that i noticed she was still on my claim and i rang back in march and told them, they said it would be a few weeks to make the change, but at the same time i also told them that my oldest was moving out, they said ring back when she has moved out cos there is nothing they can do till then, this confused me but he was adamant that i need to ring again, i have then received this letter asking for proof of the collage she went to cos they think i have been overpaid since September 2012!!!!!!i am now worring my self ill that they will prosicute me for fraud, i understand that i will have to pay back a large sum and have penilties but i did imform them, also worried now cos i have another change in circumstances as i have just got a job and was going to ring about that, now they will think that things are wrong, as i was self employed and got working tax credit, but the self employment didnt work out and i was getting deeper and deeper into debt, so have been looking for a job.
has anyone been in this situation and what will the outcome be?? as normal with important bills and letters it came friday and i have not been able to do anything till tomo

[valeriej43]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

My son has received a letter saying he owes them £128, a few weeks ago it was over a £1000, he is supposed to pay it by the 1-10-14, his wage has dropped by £4000 this year due to ill health and can only work less hours than he used to, but tax credits are still sssesing him on last years wage, i have written another post about his circumstances in the DLA section, he has very little left to live on when he has paid his rent, CSA and fuel bills TV licence etc, hardly anything bleft for food, i am supplementing him, its disgusting, he had no tax credits last year except for 3 payments of £15, i saw in another post about someone sending p60 in, ,anyone got any advice please

[Kati]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

could he not contact them saying he is going to have difficulties paying it all by then and asking for a payment plan??

unfortunately ALL tax credits are worked out on the previous years earnings, so there is not much he can do about that

Kati

[valeriej43]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

How can they say hes been overpaid when he wasnt getting anything, [for the period endind 6-4-2014, he hasnt had any tax credits for over a year

[Kati]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

I have no idea :sad: :sorry: - has he asked for an explanation from them??

[Reluctant]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

It all comes down to the signing of the Annual Declaration.
I now know this because over the years we've returned £4k in 2005. £800 Child element in 2013 for the year 2010/11 I think it was. For similar reason to yours.
Daughter signed up to college, went for a while. Had one of the teacher student chats where she mentioned that she would like a part time job if she could get one, so they threw her off the course deciding she wasn't showing them commitment to be hard working and diligent. Big blow to us. They kept the girls who were jacking up in the lavatories but kick her out so to feel like a failure. Has no intention to ever go to college again.
Anyway.. Still entittled to the child element of tax credit as she signed on with connections for a while. Never received any ESA payments as they took too long deciding if she was eligible as Father was self-emplyed and his accounts were not finalised until the following April. That was always our downfall with WFTC right from the start (for us sometime around 1994.) when it was called something else FIS. Family Income Supplement.
The demand letters for money back and the update letters of changes in circumstance that we always told them about over the phone, which they said they made a note of on the system were always confusing. With letters looking similar but for different yrs. Always late and over lapping.
They also took a further payment of a few thousand for something else. No idea what but I do know as a family we were not earning enough and were entitled. And they may yet want to take another £1,700ish for a yr 2012 demand letter but OH died before he could be forced into paying it. Plus 3 payments of WFTC paid in April 2012 when we no longer had wanted WFTC and so had not completed the Declaration.

Without the declaration being signed they take any or all back, even if you should have kept it. I didn't know that.
I read it and it says you are signing to make a claim or to say you agree with their working out and it was rare we ever found their letters to be correct at any given moment in time, so we just used to ring them instead and tell them where they were wrong.
Return to the loop. They make a note on the system and send another letter.

[mohmmad786]

Re: Dealing with tax credit overpayments

Can anyone please direct me to a working link please as this one is not working for me or maybe the website is down.
Thanks.