Overpayment in Tax Credit

fatboyonadiet · 15 December 2004 at 12:59PM

Basically received two letters back in April advising I've been overpaid in my tax credit claim, I don't have a problem with this, but first letter said it was £318 and second said it was £275. I contacted them and was told it was the latter and they would be in touch in due course to collect payment.

Thay have now sent me a letter saying I owe £318 and must pay by the 1st of Jan, I've rung them and they said it is only £275. And they will be in touch about paying over 12 months.

I want to pay this over 12 months but everytime I try to call the 0845 302 1429 number it's engaged and I'm due to go away from Friday until the 7th of January.

Any help/advice? Don't want to get stung with late payments or interest etc. Or for them to try and contact me while I'm away

dunstonh · 15 December 2004 at 1:52PM

Interesting. They overpaid me by about £3000. Although i never spent the money as I knew i wasnt entitled to it, they have chosen to not pay me the basic amount and use it to repay the overpayment. Its very unlikely I will be entitled to that either but i dont mind as its earning interest for me.

They have never asked for full repayment but at £44 four weekly, its going to take them a time to get the money back.

Fran · 15 December 2004 at 3:12PM

Basically received two letters back in April advising I've been overpaid in my tax credit claim, I don't have a problem with this, but first letter said it was £318 and second said it was £275. I contacted them and was told it was the latter and they would be in touch in due course to collect payment.

Thay have now sent me a letter saying I owe £318 and must pay by the 1st of Jan, I've rung them and they said it is only £275. And they will be in touch about paying over 12 months.

I want to pay this over 12 months but everytime I try to call the 0845 302 1429 number it's engaged and I'm due to go away from Friday until the 7th of January.

Any help/advice? Don't want to get stung with late payments or interest etc. Or for them to try and contact me while I'm away

I would write to them explaining the situation and that you have made every effort to get hold of them.

irs101 · 15 December 2004 at 3:31PM

DD

That is one of the more, what you could call, interesting aspects of the system.

There is nothing to stop you intentionally running up an overpayment every year.

Start of year:
Me: "Hello Inland Revenue? Sadly my business is going down the tube. Working lots of hours, but hardly getting any money"
IR:"OK sir, we'll throw loads of dosh at you to help you through your difficult period"

Next April
Me: "Hello, me again. Luckily, everything got better after we spoke last. Turned into a bumper year, made £40,000 profit"
IR: "Well sir, that means you owe us about 6 grand. Unfortunately that means that we'll have to take away your family element of £547.50."
Me: "Well actually, this next year is looking a little difficult, I'd be surprised if I clear £10K."
IR: "Oh dear. Well that means your entitled to £4K over the next year. Obviously we'll have to reduce that by 25% so that you start repaying your previous overpayment......is that OK?"

Of course, I'm not actually doing this - I'm employed which makes it difficult - but surely there will be a good number who would like to take advantage of a perpetual interest free loan from Gordon. All above board and within the rules of tax credits.

As for the original problem, FBonadiet, I think you've just got to keep pressing IR and complain about the treatment you've been receiving. The lobby groups regularly complain about the multitude of award notices and conflicting information people receive.

fairenoughclough · 22 December 2004 at 1:50AM

Keep on complaining .

I've now been compensated twice for their overpayments.

Three if you count the interest on the £3500 they've overpaid.

Basically their computer systems were a complete shambles and one minor error in data input brought about all sorts of problems.

You need to remember that they are human beings and are working in call centres without proper access to records and history of claims.

There are a few of them that know what they are doing but the majority don't (in my experience) and what's more don't give a **** about it.

Write a letter to them stating "The facts of the case as you see them" and do not accept their answers until it suits you.

My case has now been going on since November 2003 and the money is still earning interest.

hope this helps

Mike

deemy2004 · 22 December 2004 at 9:23AM

Basically received two letters back in April advising I've been overpaid in my tax credit claim, I don't have a problem with this, but first letter said it was £318 and second said it was £275. I contacted them and was told it was the latter and they would be in touch in due course to collect payment.

Thay have now sent me a letter saying I owe £318 and must pay by the 1st of Jan, I've rung them and they said it is only £275. And they will be in touch about paying over 12 months.

I want to pay this over 12 months but everytime I try to call the 0845 302 1429 number it's engaged and I'm due to go away from Friday until the 7th of January.

Any help/advice? Don't want to get stung with late payments or interest etc. Or for them to try and contact me while I'm away

Heres hoping that you don't owe them £318 AND £275 !

Mum_of_5_2 · 27 July 2008 at 4:02PM

hi

just a quick bit of information. I was overpaid by the tax credits a few years ago to the tune of £1000. As soon as i had started receiving the extra money i was convinced that they were wrong. i wrote 3 letters in the may stating clearly our circumstances and that i thought they were over paying me. i then rang several times throughout the year taking note of time and the persons name and what was said. The following april when they said yes they had overpaid me, i was able to show proof that i had written and telephoned continously throughout the year. They began taking the money back and i continously fought the case. their own literature says if you can prove that you did everything in your power to let them know then you can keep the money. so i send photocopies and lists of my calls, i got no where from the may to the december when someone on their lines told me if i didn't use the words 'formal complaint' in my letter just the word complaint that it didn't get pushed to the next stage! I immediately wrote again and as by now it was the following april i received a cheque for the full amount they had taken back. so... keep clear records, write if you can as it's a better evidence and keep fighting it.

I personally wouldnt want them to overpay me as they will take it back however long it takes so you haven't 'won'

hope this helps

SABJ · 28 July 2008 at 10:41AM

we have rang them at least 8 times in the last yr to ask if we are being paid the right ammount as my husband started a new job and got a good pay and they said everytime yes its right and kept paying us now they have sent us a letter saying we owe them 1800 im devestated we have quite a high mortgage and we are not extreamly well off so that was why we kept ringing them in the first place we dont know what to do weve asked them to send us an appeal form but from other peoples experience they dont get you any where i wish id never applied in the first place then i wouldnt be in debt

Overpayment in Tax Credit

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