I am owed a payment by tax credits, how long does it normally take them to process ?

skeeterwckt

I did my tax credits renewal for this year and i then received a letter from HMRC telling me that i was owed a large payment and just had to confirm a couple of details i did this straight away and a week later i still have not received my money, i phoned them this morning to see if they could tell me when my payments would come through and they said that they could not give me a time scale and that i should phone them back in about a weeks time to see how its progressing, has anyone else been owed money by tax credits and how long did it take for the payment to come through ?

alyson2208

hi im owed 4 weeks money from them told me it would take 2 weeks phoned yesterday and they said time scale has changed to 4 weeks :mad:

skeeterwckt

I hope it doesn't take that long ! Why is it if they owe you money they hold onto it as long as possible but if you owe them money they want it straight away ?

[Deleted User]

alyson2208 wrote: »

hi im owed 4 weeks money from them told me it would take 2 weeks phoned yesterday and they said time scale has changed to 4 weeks :mad:

TCO advisers were only made aware of this change in timescale on Monday/tuesday. Believe me it is just as frustrating for us!

[Deleted User]

skeeterwckt wrote: »

I hope it doesn't take that long ! Why is it if they owe you money they hold onto it as long as possible but if you owe them money they want it straight away ?

You may have a "Potential Payment" but they may be completing checks to make sure the information you have given them is correct.

With all the bad press about fraudulent claims for X number of children etc, they need to try to make sure (sometimes!) that they are not just paying large amounts to someone who has lied or made a mistake.

If it takes any longer than about a month you can make a complaint to the processing dept as it sometimes speeds up a bit.

skeeterwckt

As far as i know all the checks have been completed they just had to confirm the amount we earned last year, they just cant give me a timescale as to how long the money will take to go into our account ? The money is for working tax credit not child tax credit. I was just wondering if anyone knew how long this normally takes, when i talk to them on the phone its showing that the money should have gone into our account on the 27th of June but didnt because of the amount and they just needed to check that all the figures were correct. I am expecting a baby in four weeks time and i would like to have all this kind of thing sorted out before then.

[Deleted User]

When I said checks, they may be checking that you have declared the amount you really earned. I am not saying you have done anything wrong.

If there are large payments they are regularly recalled to be checked again by the payments and/or compliance depts.

If you call again make sure the adviser checks if a "Large Payment WAM Referral" has ben sent. If they say no, tell them to send one and to check guidance under "Payments - Large one off payment not received".

skeeterwckt

thankyou for your help hopefully it wont take very long but from what you have said it sounds like i am in for a fair old wait for this money if it ever materialises at all !!

jaxxy00

Thought i would post about how long i waited although it may not be similar circumstances to yourself. I was owed money because they had stopped payments for my daughter back in March when they should have still been paying it.

What it amounts to is them owing me 10 weeks tax credits which by the way was no small amount. It was just under £500. When i rang about it the lady sorted it out on the phone and said they would pay me back for those 10 weeks and it would take 7-10 days to go in my bank. I was quite shocked, but pleased at how easy it seemed to sort out over the phone (have heard horror stories about the tax credits) although expected to have to phone them back after 10 days as didnt expect it to be in there that easy and soon.

Couldnt believe it when just 4 days later the whole amount had gone into my bank. This was only recently too, about 3 weeks ago, if that.

skeeterwckt

It did seem relatively simple to talk to them on the phone it was just that they couldn't give me a time scale as to how long i had to wait so i am left to guessing when it will go into my bank.

skeeterwckt

just an update, still not had the money through, but have had my award notice for this year and the finalised award for last year, last years is showing we are owed money, when i phoned i was informed that a referral has been passed onto the payments dept, and this can take 7-10 days but they still dont know when the money will go into account.