Tax Credit enquiry letter

kaylawendy

Hi

Can anyone please help me

I have had a letter Today from the Tax credits to say the are conducting a general enquiry on me for 2006/2007. They have not asked for information

What does this mean? I am very worried I may have done something incorrect or be in trouble

I have mental health problems and this is playing on my mind badly. I have rang them and they say it is routine but I cant find any information online about this letter

Please help me

Thank you

SuziQ

Don't know the answer but didn't want to see you without a reply! My instinct would be,if they say it is routine why would they lie? Please don't worry yourself ill about it!
I am in the middle of an appeal over repayment due to a lost annual declaration. It's been going on 2 years in Oct and if I had let it stay on my mind all this time I would have had a nervous breakdown by now,it's just not worth it!

DreamerV

A certain proportion of claims are looked into randomly just to make sure everything is getting done right. It's nothing to concern yourself about...it's to maintain quality on a wider scale, make sure the jobs getting done right, from both side

pennyfrog

I got one of those letters yesterday, too. It says that they're enquiring into our claim for the year ended 5th April 2007 to make sure we received the right amount of tax credits.
I'm a bit worried about this. In July '06 I had a debt counselling session at the CAB, who were brilliant- and the woman with me said we were being severely underpaid on the amount of tax credits we were receiving. She made a phone call there and then and they looked into it and agreed that it wasn't enough. Within a week we received a big lump sum in back payments.
I'm really worried now that they're going to pull that much loved old stunt and say they've overpaid us, so we'll have to pay it back. I was really hoping we'd get a bit of a back payment this year, as they've told us all year we're not entitled to working tax credit, when we actually fulfill all the criteria and their own website calculator agrees that we should be getting it. According to that we should be getting about £20 a week more than we are now.
Now I'm worried they'll say we end up owing them money! we're really relying on tax credits at the moment- so I'm very nervous about it.
Does anyone know how long they're likely to take before they get back to us?

kaylawendy

I am worried incase I end up having to pay them lots of money back (that I dont have) or having my current award reduced

I believe I have given them correct infomation but getting a letter makes you start to panic and question yourself - especially when you have so many money worries. The site of a bill / query sends me into made panic

Is this basic letter the first stage of the enquiry? For what I have looked up it seems more information is usually requested?

I know it could go on for a while but I cant help but worry.

Any advice / experiences of this would be much apprecaited

outrageous_monkey

We got the same letter yesterday too!

We do have an overpayment for that year but we have been sorting that out since Feb of this year. Last letter off TCO that we got was saying we are entitled to £xx and this will be taken from the overpayment and any future rewards will also be taken from the overpayment.

So when I got that letter yesterday I was sent into panic state.

I called them up and the lady on the phone couldnt explain why we had been sent the letter as our overpayment has all ready been addressed. She told me to put it away and forget about it and apologised.

I know that doesnt quite help your situation, but I thought if anyone else had an overpayment and got that letter, it might ease their mind.

Dont forget worry is like a rocking horse, it gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere fast:D

kaylawendy

Thank you all for replying

I have rang the tax credits helpline who have said it is "routine" but I am still very nervous as have heard so much about huge overpayments that have to be paid back in a short amount of time - just another money worry I dont need at the moment

[Deleted User]

As DreamerV has said, this is a routine enquiry which happens every year. TCO are making sure that THEY have done everything correct. If they find that they have made an error which will cause an overpayment when they have corrected it, they will not ask you to pay it back.
This enquiry does not affect any outstanding overpayments/issues on you claim.
TCO will write to you again when they have finished their enquiries.

kaylawendy

Thank you all for taking the time to reply

I guess I will have to wait for the reply from the Tax credit people. I am worried as I had a breakdown in the year they are investigating and I was on a phased return to work and short term incapacity benefit - They were informed via telephone at every stage but made no changes to my entitlement. I am sure they are going to sting me with an overpayment but maybe I am been so negative do to the huge financial problems I have had. I had never claimed anything until I was ill and often wish I never had bothered as It can be so stressful!

pennyfrog

I'm watching to see how it goes for you!
We've had another letter asking for my husband's employment details (PAYE no. employer, start date of job, hours worked) for the tax year '06 to '07. They already have all this info- but we've given it to them again. Now it's the waiting game!
I'm like you, kaylawendy- feeling a bit jittery till I know exactly what's happening!

kaylawendy

Thanks Pennyfrog

I have not heard anymore yet. I just have an awful feeling of overpayment as my payments are fairly high, I have always advised them of my current circumstances but just have a bad feeling - Dont think the bad press that the tax credit people receive helps

Please let me know how things go for you, Would also apprecaite anyone else experiences