Tax Credit overpayment of £12,000 being reclaimed.

Alan_M_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

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.

I'm not leaving my disabled partner alone to repay a debt, as it stands, she doesn't have to repay the debt as under the Tax Credit interpretation she has no disposable income. However, the agents range from helpful to unpleasant and it's a problem we'd like to address and solve purely from a stress respect.

As I've clearly said, I'm not going to leave her in the lurch and if push comes to shove I'll pay it. I find that rather galling as she had no benefit of the money initially but as has already been stated, the debt isn't in question as each party were jointly liable for any overpayment incurred.

My query is what right tax credit have to personal information about me and my income over a debt not incurred in my name and before I was in a relationship with the lady concerned.

Is that clear enough for you or are your personal opinions still clouding your ability to read what I'm actually asking?

Also what has my partners daughters's possible education in 7 years time got to do with Tax Credit Officers requesting my personal account information now?

If you have nothing constructive to say, say nothing.

Alan_M_2

Update,

This morning I rang the ICO who explained that the information requested fell under a specific act of parliament drafted to cover recovery of tax credits...unless I know the specific act I'm going to struggle to find specific information. The ICO suggest I ring HMRC Tax Credits and ask their legal team.

I phoned HMRC and after being passed further up the food chain a few times I arrived with a chap who was in a position to provide me with difinitive answers.

I am not obliged to divulge any of my personal infomration to HMRC under any circumstances at all for reasons of this case.

My partner is disabled and her situation will never change, in fact it will gradually worsen.

The way the current debt is assessed in the following manner:-

All the household outgoings are declared.
All the benefits/income of my partner are disclosed.

The outgoings are halved and compared to the income of my partner, this leaves a shortfall, which of course I cover as I personally mostly pay for living expenses and outgoings etc......meaning there is no requirement to make any payments towards the overpayment.

This will continue every three months until they get fed up with being rejected and decide they will then pursue the ex husband for the remaining balance as my partner is and never will be in a position to pay it.

Bottom line is I can refuse to ever divulge any personal information about myself and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it.

Also they cannot insist my partner makes any contribution to the overpayment on the grounds that she is suffering hardship, i.e. her outgoings exceed her income and she is only able to live by means of external supprt (me).

SuziQ

That sounds like a reasonable result,you must feel relieved and I know this was a 'principle' thing which I totally understand! Why on earth can't those further down the chain be made aware of this so that they don't demand the info in the first place? It seems unfair to place this strain in families on this day and age.I know my fight has gone 'cold' at the moment as I am on IS and they know I can't repay-I am sure as soon as I am fighting fit and back to work they will relaunch their efforts against me!

Alan_M_2

The attitude of the Tax Credits is absolutely dependent on the person you get at the end of the phone on any particular day.

Some go out of their way to be helpful, some are unhelpful bordering on aggressive and would really do better with a career in commercial debt recovery with there bully tactics....fortunately I'm wise enough to stand my ground until I get the facts, which I'm glad I did.

You're right though, this is a principal matter and I will continue on this path knowing there's nothing they can do.

It would be just if they reverted to the ex husband who also fails to make any maintenance payments (despite court orders) and has managed three visits with his daughter in the last 12 months despite living less than 5 miles away....

I will always stick to the rules and what is legal, however I will use those rules to the full benefit of myself where possible...it does work both ways sometimes.

sally0101

Well Alan I find it uplifting to read that at least some people are standing up for what they believe in and good for you.

Before I read the bit about you getting the facts from the Legal side of it, I was going to suggest getting Legal advice (free legal advice). However, you wont need this now. I think it is totally unacceptable of the Tax Credits people to expect you to divulge any of your personal details or information for an incident that occured before you were even ont he scene.

I admire you for standing by your partner through all of this and think that you sound to be a far more suitable 'father figure' for her daughter. Lets just hope that after seeing what her 'dad' has put her mother through, the daughter will see the kind of man her father really is and wash her hands of him. He ought to be ashamed of himself.

One final thing ... well 2 things actually ... Considering what her ex partner has done, should this not be a matter for the police or fraud investigators to look into? Surely this is illegal. Second point ... if I was you, i would suggest to your partner that you put in a compensation claim for severe stress to compensate you for the pressure you have both been under and the worry this has caused you. The Citizens advice bureu may be able to help with advice for this.

Hope you all feel happier soon. You sound like you need a nice holiday.

Sally

Alan_M_2

Fortunately my partners daughter actually does see her father for what he is, which actually makes things easier on us in a perverse way, in so much as I don't get the "You're not my dad" thrown at me, as I do a better job than her Dad!

What He did with the Tax Credits issue is very very difficult to prove. I would be happy if I stick to my guns without rocking the boat too much and "The system" then decideds to stop pursuing my partner but decides to take up the balance with the ex husband...that would be compensation enough.

sally0101

well good on you anyway for what you have done.

kazzah

Alan well done!
I was in a similar situation many years ago
my husband had a child with a former girlfriend long
before we met and though he was never part of their life he always paid his child maintenance ( as it was called then) directly from his salary via a court order from the magistrates court ( i am going back about 30 years )
the DSS wanted to re- calculate the amount he paid and we duly sent off his wage slips and our mortgage and bank statements ( neither of us earned a good wage) which showed there was NO spare cash to take
then we had a court date come through and the DSS were suggesting the the Magistrates that I should delcare my earnings to be taken into account- they had tried this tack before and like you, there was NO way I was going to pay anything towards the upkeep of the child - who was by this time at school full time whilst his mother languished on the dole doing nothing

when the magistrates looked at my husbands paperwork he asked the DSS officer why they had brought the case to court when it was clear there was no spare cash to be had and they replied
" when we visited the home of mr and mrs XX, we looked in the window and saw that the house was well cared for, so we thought they could afford it"

the magistrate was as aghast as we were and thankfully told the DSS he was going to REDUCE my husbands amount of maintenance payable to help alleviate our financial hardship and that any further applications from them would be looked on unfavourably by the magistrates

everything went fine from then onwards - until the CSA came into force- which involved a whole other story about them sending us a claim for £10,000 maintenance for his son - who by this time was 21 and in the army earning £15k per year !!!!!!!!!!!!

I may sound harsh but this child was not MY responsibility and I did not see why MY wage should be taken into account!

Alan_M_2

kazzah wrote: »

I may sound harsh but this child was not MY responsibility and I did not see why MY wage should be taken into account!

It does sound harsh, in the same way as what I'm doing sounds harsh, but it's the principle that counts in both these cases.....to a point. Of course I'd not allow it to financially compromise my partner, but I'll stick to the letter of the law (which is in fact their law).

woozywendy

Something similiar happened to my niece when they broke up. Because it was a joint claim they were both responsible to pay it back. She paid her half and thought that would be it but because her OH would not pay anything they came after her for the other half as well.