Child/Working Tax Credit Dispute

brookletscottage

Hi all,

Got a bit of a problem and I'm really struggling to find some advice on what I can do to resolve the problem. Basically I'm in the process of separating from my wife BUT because we're unable to sell our house we're still living together as a 'family' (Dad, Mum & Son). We decided to separate in Aug 08 but we're still living in the same house as a 'family', all income & bills come from the same bank account and for our sons benefit we still eat together.



The problem we have is that because we continue to live as a 'family' we didn't tell the HMRC about this change until May 09 and they're now claiming we should've told them in Aug 08 and they want to reclaim ALL the Child/Working Tax Credit from Aug 08 to May 09 (also on a number of occasions we contacted them we were also told we DID NOT have to change our Child/Working Tax Credit claim until we physically separated). We've appealed their decision and the conflicting information we've been given in the past but this doesn't appear to have helped (though they did apologise for giving us the wrong information - great help!!).


Can anyone out there give us some advice on what we can do next??

[Deleted User]

If you were still techinically a family unit - eating together, financially supporting each other and doing things for each other such as washing clothes and shopping - you should still have claimed as a couple.

But if you lived independantly, although living under the same roof, you should have reported the seperation.

All you can do is dispute if you have been given incorrect advice but you may need to provide evidence - ie. give dates and times of calls. They can listen to the calls but you must give them an idea of when the calls where made. You can make a subject access request if you need a copy of the calls.

If the dispute is unsuccesful the money will need to be paid back to TCO. You and your ex will be jointly liable for the debt. You can arrange to repay it over a period of time.

You and/or your partner can apply as single persons and request backdating for up to 3 months.

sinstar

How do they know you made this decision in August 2008?