Tax Credit overpayment of £12,000 being reclaimed.

Alan_M_2

This is going to be slightly long winded.

Set the scene:-

My partner divorced her husband last year. He had left the martial home in March 2008 after a long period of unpleasantness. All in all, huge relief He left.

My Partner has Multiple Sclerosis and is permanently disabled, she also has an 11 year daughter.

I moved in with my partner and her daughter in October 2008 and completed the Tax credit details immediately. Since that time (as my earnings are such) there is no working tax credit and we owe nothing. My partner receives the child allowance part only.

It was once we'd completed this form that my partner received the demand for overpayment of close to £12,000 covering three years of combined payments for her and her ex husband (nothing to do with me).

Initially we'd thought this must be an error, but investigated further. We managed to get a couple of payslips and a P60 off the ex for part of the period covered. He'd worked out that by telling them he earned nothing, he not only paid no tax, but He actually got a credit on top of his salary.

His payslips showed a salary of £1,500 a month gross, zero tax, working tax credits to add another £100 or so, so He was actually taking home £1600 a month when being paid £1500! My partner knew absolutely nothing about this, He'd been filling in all the forms and this was dropped on us after He'd left. Clearly my partner was required to sign the form and this is the problem.

She is now legally responsible for half this debt, half has now been cleared as the tax credit people pursued the ex husband and He had to clear 50% using the divorce settlement.

My partner is now left with a debt of £5,900 which has been outstanding for a year.

I refuse to allow my income to be taken into account, this debt is nothing to do with me and I will not pay it off under any circumstances.

We've just had our quarterly call tot he overpayment team, the woman was quite aggressive and demanded details of my income...I told her where to go in no uncertain terms.

There are two ways of calculating monthly income/expenditure.

1/ Add together incomes, remove debts then work out what's left...I have no debts, most of the monthly income is my salary and I'm not inclined to want to pay off a debt run up by my partners ex husband before I was even on the scene.

2/ Disclose all outgoings but my partners income only....All outgoings are then halved and the excess calculated....obviously there's a shortfall on this calculation, which I cover.

The attitude f the agent varies from call to call, some aggressive, some very helpful. Todays was aggressive, almost suggesting I was responsible for the payment if my partner couldn't make them..(she can take a jump there).

Three months banks statements have been requested....which is fine, they will simply confirm the details I've provided them with over the last 6-9 months so no issue there.

However I pay a large amount of the outgoings from my personal account and I just know we're going to get pulled up on the lack of transactions on my partners account.

I need to know what the position is if I'm asked to prove what out joint outgoings are, I'm quite confident that under data protection they have absolutely no right to see any of my information as the debt does not apply to me by any stretch of the imiagination.

I'm also keen that they don't see how much money I have in my personal account. I assume I can continue to tell them they have no right under the data protection act to details of any of my personal information?

Anything else I should be wary of?

To date we've been nothing but trnasparent and have been honest so we have nothing to hide, however any questions aimed at are they pursuing the ex husabnd, has he paid some of the debt etc...are all met witht he standard "We can't discuss that with you for data protection reasons" so I guess we can play the same game in respect of my details?

I know we are going to be asked for proof of payment of our mortgage, which comes out of my account entirely. How do we stand on this?

cte1111

I thought (having been in a similar but not so extreme situation) that if someone has claimed tax credits without their partner's knowledge, then they are not liable for the overpayment. I just ignored the letters until they stopped sending them. I think I read something saying that they were dubious about whether these 'debts' were legally enforceable, so felt that it was worth a try just to wait until they gave up. It did not affect my credit status.

I would just keep being unhelpful until they give up. Perhaps also worth writing to your MP? Given your partner's difficult circumstances, they may be able to help get the tax credits people off her back.

Alan_M_2

The claim was in joint names, Both my partner and her ex husband signed the form so I'm assuming (and have been informed by Tax credits people) that the debt is joint and they are both liable. Although they seem to be pursuing 50% from each party specifically rather than trying to obtain all/whatever they can from either.

The problem here is the claim was made in full knowledge of both parties, however the amount of the claim was not disclosed by the ex in so much as He kept it all/spent it all....He'd never disclosed how much he was getting to his wife who was blissfully unaware.

I'm simply going to continue to be obstructive with regard to my own income as I feel they have absolutely no recourse in that respect and as long as I'm honest with my partners details (which I always have been) then I can just string them along as long as it takes.

Oldernotwiser

Could you define the way in which you're using the term "partner"?

System

The problem is that along with signing the original application your partner also received award notices in her name which showed what their awards were based on. That's one of the main complaints made by tax credit claimants - the fact that TCO send copies to both parties in a joint claim - it's generally seen as a huge waste of paper. Unless your partners ex hid her copies from her I don't think she can avoid recovery of the overpayment.

I do agree though that it's unfair to expect you to divulge your information too :mad:

Alan_M_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Could you define the way in which you're using the term "partner"?

We live together as a married couple would, does the definition change anything?

Alan_M_2

Pam17 wrote: »

I do agree though that it's unfair to expect you to divulge your information too :mad:

I'm more bothered by this than the claim itself, which is actually correct.

I'm bothered that the ex was given all the money and blew it whilst his wife at the time was completely unaware and He actively hid the paperwork. However this is terribly difficult to prove and she's now been left with a huge debt. I'm not disputing the debt, that is unfortunately correct. I'm being asked to pay towards it. That I find completely unreasonable.

Of course if push comes to shove I'm not going to leave my partner in the lurch but I find the methods which these agent use unpleasant and I can quite understand how fragile people are bullied or scared into paying money they don't owe.

However what I'm most concerned about it proving we pay what we do, as I cover a lot of our living expenses, these are paid out of my bank account (not a joint account).

There are no circumstances under which I will release details of or copies of my bank statements for this particular claim, however this may be the only way to actually prove I pay what I've said we do.

Would it be a breach of Data Protection to insist I provide this information for a debt which occured before I was invloved with my partner and is not in my name.

SuziQ

I suppose the way CTC see it,she had as much benefit of the money as he did whilst they were living togther. I don't really see how you can avoid repaying it (or rather-it's her debt,but as you are now a couple.............) I think it's worth speaking to CAB or MP but other than that just try to negotiate a very small repayment. Did she never ask anything about CTC etc,have any input in the finances at all? I am not unsympathetic at all as I am fighting a repaymnet myself (they said they hadn't recieved an annual declaration I proved I posted) but it does seem she is liable for half this debt.

AnxiousMum

Is there any chance that the correct information was on the initial claim form, and the ex may have phoned in a change of circumstances? There would still be an awards notice sent out to your partner - but if the changes were made by phone it would be more beneficial to your partner in showing that she was unaware of the claim made Just a thought....

sinstar

It is already clear the OP is not looking for a way to 'get out' of this overpayment being paid back, so suggestions on how to do that aren't going to be much use, are they?

They are looking for advice about whether or not his income etc should be taken into account when deciding how his partner needs to repay a debt that has nothing to do with him. Unfortunately at the moment I have no advice or suggestions, surely it would be beneficial if further replies were offering advice regarding the actual enquiry.

Oldernotwiser

Alan_M wrote: »

We live together as a married couple would, does the definition change anything?

I can't see why someone who's on a very good wage would leave their disabled partner to cope with this repayment alone. Surely the sooner this is sorted, the sooner everyone will be able to settle into their new lives?

In 7 years time, if your partner's daughter goes to university, your income will be assessed for her student finances; you won't be able to argue that this is nothing to do with you.