Can someone tell me if this weird tax thing is worth worrying about?

lelole

Hi

Not strictly moneysaving, but I don't know who else to ask.

I had a really strange phonecall from the inland revenue - tax credits today (at least I hope it was them as I gave them all of our DOBs as security)...

They said they had rung as they had two dofferent addresses listed for myself and my partner, and wanted to find out what was happening. They confirmed the correct address for my partner, but for me they had listed my mum's address.

This would not be weird for most people - except:

1. I have not lived with my mum for about 15 years, and never at that house.
2. My mum has only lived there herself for 1 1/2 years.
3. My mum's surname has changed to different to mine, since I left home.
4. I have never used this address for anything.
5. My sister, who lives at a different address to me, has had the same thing happen last year but with NI.
6. Nooone can (or will) tell either of us how this address became listed at Inland Revenue, nor by what method (ie phone or letter) nor by who.

When I expressed my concerns to the guy I spoke to he couldn't get off the phone quick enough, and said not to worry, it's probably to do with a work address...

Seems so strange to me, and I am a bit worried about it - can anyone shed any light?

Thanks

Leah x

cte1111

I think that would concern me too. Maybe worth ringing the tax credits people back and see if you get a more helpful / knowledgable person, if not then ask for a supervisor. I think you have a right to know how / why they had the wrong address for you.

Cook_County

This sounds like a fraudulent call so you may wish to contact the police.

kitty1801

Cook_County wrote: »

This sounds like a fraudulent call so you may wish to contact the police.

I competely agree. They would not be contacting you to check your address. Even if they did, it would most likely be by post. Sounds like a debt collector agency to me possibly trying to get up to date info on you...

lelole

Hi, I phoned the Inland revenue to check that they did call me, and, yes they did. The woman I spoke to was very nice, but could not understand how the change of address had happened.

So not debt collectors (thankfully - though we are lucky to be pretty debt free - at the moment)...but still quite weird...

Still none the wiser!

Leah x

Robert_Sterling_3

Have you had any correspondence from the Income Tax people correctly addressed to where you now live?

I seem to get quite a few items each year. I have just had one with my next year Tax code number.

lelole

Yes, well that's the weird thing, I have always recieved things from them (this is the tax credit not income tax) at this address at the same time as they send them to my partner at this address. They also confirmed that NO correspondance went to my mum's address.

Leah xx

ButtonF1Fan

Do you claim child benifits?

Could this be from those missing government laptops/disks that kept happening in the last 2 years? i remember was details of child benifit claiments, which is basically every parent in the uk!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7104368.stm to remind you of the story.
I'd advise anyone to hang up, dial 1471 and google that number. Then contact tax credits or whichever tax agency are allegedlly calling you using telephone numbers from the paperwork they give you.

If its really the tax credit people, they should understand. if it wasnt them, call the police and tell them the number that called you.

i've hung up on my bank 3 times in a row as i was convinced it was fruad. lol
When a till lady in the bank mentioned they'd been trying to contact me i said sorry, calls seemed dodgy and she understood. not a problem.

System

kitty1801 wrote: »

I competely agree. They would not be contacting you to check your address. Even if they did, it would most likely be by post. Sounds like a debt collector agency to me possibly trying to get up to date info on you...

That's not strictly true. For a variety of reasons, not necessarily to do with HMRC, discrepancies can occur such as this and there is a team within TCO who will contact claimants by phone to clarify which address is correct. If they can't get through on the phone (which is the quickest option) they will then send letters out to both claimants.

Have you used your mum's address with any other government agency or your employer perhaps?

Pont

It still seems very strange as they obviously were sure of your current 'phone number, but not your current address?

System

Pont wrote: »

It still seems very strange as they obviously were sure of your current 'phone number, but not your current address?

The problem is more to do with having 2 different addresses for the claimants on a joint tax credit claim. This could be an indication that the couple have split up and the claim would have to be terminated asap and claimants encouraged to make new separate claims if they are eligible. Also many claimants provide mobile phone numbers so that wouldn't necessarily change if they moved house.