Tax credit overpayment appeal

Hi, I have received a letter from hmrc saying I have a tax credit overpayment of £1596 from August 2016 till December 2016 when I had informed them of every change of circumstances yet they still claim it's my fault and I have to pay it back but I have asked for an appeal form as I disagree with there decision. What are my chances of winning an appeal?

Comments

  • Alice_Holt
    Alice_Holt Posts: 5,917
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    edited 24 February 2017 at 10:23PM
    Some info here:
    http://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/survival-guide-dealing-tax-credit-overpayments

    http://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/challenging-overpayments/

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509048/COP26.pdf

    Have you been through the mandatory reconsideration route?
    "A tax credit appeal is a formal process that allows a claimant to challenge an incorrect entitlement decision. The appeals process is set out in Section 38 Tax Credits Act 2002. For decisions made on or after 6 April 2014, an appeal cannot be brought under Section 38 unless a review of the decision has been carried out (called mandatory reconsideration) and a mandatory reconsideration (MR) notice issued showing the outcome."

    HMRC Code Of Practice 26 includes the statement " If we fail to meet our responsibilities, but you meet all of yours, we won’t ask you to pay back all of an overpayment caused by our failure."

    It goes on to state:
    However – you must tell us about any mistakes on your award
    notice within 30 days of the date on your award notice. If you
    do, then you won’t be responsible for an overpayment caused
    by our mistake. If you tell us about a mistake more than 30 days
    after the date on your award notice we may ask you to pay back
    an overpayment up to the date you contacted us.

    And gives these examples:
    1) On 1 September you tell us about a change in your circumstances
    but we don’t change your award until 16 October. We won’t
    collect back any overpayment that arises after 30 September.

    2) On 12 August you tell us about a change in your income.
    We send you a new award notice which you get on 19 August,
    but we haven’t correctly recorded the information you gave us.
    If you spot this and tell us about the mistake by 18 September
    (30 days from 19 August) we won’t collect any overpayment
    caused by our mistake.

    3) On 12 August you tell us about a change in your income. We
    send you a new award notice which you get on 19 August, but
    we haven’t correctly recorded the information you gave us. If you
    spot this and don’t tell us about the mistake until 27 September
    (39 days from 19 August) you may be responsible for the
    overpayment up to the date you contacted us.

    Whenever you tell us about a mistake we won’t collect an overpayment that may build up if we fail to correct our mistake from this time.


    Do you circumstances match any of the above examples?
    Have you proof that you notified HMRC of the change of circumstances?
    If this was done by telephone, I suggest you:
    ask your telephone supplier for a phone log,
    identify the HMRC calls,
    then request a copy (quoting dates and times) of the telephone call tape from HMRC .
    Alice Holt Forest situated some 4 miles south of Farnham forms the most northerly gateway to the South Downs National Park.
  • Thanks Alice, I will have a look at the links you have posted.
  • Darksparkle
    Darksparkle Posts: 5,465 Forumite
    An appeal may not be appropriate, in most cases it should be a dispute.

    The first thing you need to establish is why you have an overpayment. You can't know what route to follow until then.
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