Tax credit overpayment

loulou111

I hope someone can help me!
Myself and my husband have just applied for tax credits again and have started to recieve our payments, which is all fine. However the Tax credit people have just written to us now to say that we were overpaid over £3500 when we last had tax credits in 2003-2004 & 2004-2005? I can't believe that they can write to us some 5 years later about overpayments??? clearly I didn't know what they were on about and when I called them they say I didn't complete a renewal notice? I said I would have done this but they say they didn't recieve it and it is just too bad and I will have to repay it???? is this correct? they say I will loose any dispute cos it doesn't matter if I was or wasn't entitled to the money - if you don't send the renewal form then I am not entitled at all. I know I would have done this but how do I prove something from back in 2003/4/5???
I wish we hadn't bothered claiming it again now!

kerry13238

isnt there a time limit that in which it has to be claimed on either side cause they will only back date 3 months surley there is something to say they have to claim back over payments by

chelsea1504

I have been having some experience of disputing with TCO regarding overpayments. You need to look into this - I believe that if the amount hasn't be requested to be paid back before four years then they can't ask for it. I am sure I'm right just not sure now where I got the info...think it could be from a leaflet from contact a family (we have disabled children) although rules aren't any different for people without disabled children etc. When you dispute it they will probably tell you you can't appeal - their decision is final - you are wrong - they are right etc. You will be at the end of your tether distraught and probably want to cry. However, you can dispute it, a form TC846 (I think) is what you use to appeal. Then they write and tell you you're wrong - you write back it goes on for a year or more. Then with any luck they write off the £2000.00 you had already told them you didn't have to pay back...... If you can't get the right info speak to your MP they have a SPECIAL HOTLINE! and they can do you complaining for you (you're their constituent) they can have the hassle and get things done quicker. Hope this helps - but I am sure there is a time limit after which they can't claim it back and I'm sure it's 4 years.

Hope this helps:rolleyes:

sinstar

If you hadn't done your renewal, you may not have kept them up to date with other info like your address, so maybe they have been writing to you about it? Anyway, there is no 'time limit' that HMRC has to write to you about an overpayment.

If you don't complete your renewal all payments received between the beginning of the tax year & the renewal deadline become an overpayment.

Saying you sent in the form but not having proof will not win you a dispute against the overpayment. All literature, renewal forms etc spell out the consequences of not completing the renewal. You would have to have a very good reason for not completing it, or if you sent it away, as you say you did, a very good reason why you a) didn't check it had been received when you didn't receive a finalised award notice for the year you had been finalising with the renewal and b) ignored all reminders sent to you about the fact your renewal hadn't been received (of which there is no doubt more than one).

If your dispute is rejected & it is established you are liable for the overpayment, another dispute wont be considered unless you can provide new information that supports your claims you are not to blame.

If I had a tax credits overpayment I would establish how it happened, and only waste the time of my MP if I had good reason to.

SuziQ

I don't hold out much hope for you on this one. I was able to prove I had sent my declaration and they have written to me to say so but also say they didn't recieve it so I have to repay. My payments continued and I had been on the helpline discussing other things with them at that time,no one mentioned the missing form as apparently the advisors are told only to deal with the issue the caller ias asking about. I am told I should have known the paperwork wasn't recieved-how,when my payments continued? They have stopped threatenig me at the moment as I am on IS but I am sure that as soon as my circumstances improve they will start asking for it back again.
This is despite the fact that at the time that I-and the op- would have contested these payments,the DHS had a ploicy in place not to persue repayment if there was no loss to the public purse. As I-and I would imagine the op-were entitled and were only dissalowed due to alleged missing paperwork,this hardly seems fair. It is also the third time they have demanded repayment for me-the previous twice they made me repay and then gave me the money back as they decided they had made an error,not me! Those letters are laminated and I look at them fondly every now and then....

loulou111

Thank you all for your comments/advice. I have no intention of paying this but then it would seem from what I have read elsewhere that HMRC have covered all possible angles and you wouldn't even have the opportunity to go to jail rather than pay them - belieev me, i would rather go to jail than pay them any of my hard earned money!!
Sinstar - bet you work for HMRC - sounds like it anyway! you wouldn't think that seeing as I have worked all my adult life that HMRC would have trouble finding me if they really wanted to - not my fault that one department (or computer, cos lets face it humans have trouble speaking to each other nowadays) doesn't speak to another!! this country has gone down the shitter if you ask me!!!
chelsea1504 - Thank you v much - i hope I get a result like you!
it's funny how this government have made it as difficult as possible to give peolple who work something they are entitled to???

loulou111

oh and btw - i wouldn't feel any shame in going to my MP - cos that's what i pay him for!

rabbster

Sounds familiar! Its very strange how theses amounts of money are being overpaid. And no one else is liable, not the system or the employee who took the information over the phone or checked the form. And why do we get these letters years down the line and conflicting information every time you phone. Its about time they were answerable. I owe £9.800 over the past seven years and for 18 months didn't claim. My story is so long I wouldn't know were to start but then again two solicitors we have contacted don't understand how the tax credit system either. I keep telling them if I had that amount of money I would sue. Good look .......!

enemes

If its any consolation LouLou, my ex and I manged to over-claim £32K in tax credits. I hasten to add, that I never knew anything about it at the time.

It was only when it came into the open, that she became my 'ex', but I singly offered to repay the excess. However, the IRC after Direct Debiting for a year and a half just stopped collecting! That was three years ago.

So, not only did I get rid off a nasty cheating coniving lying ex, I also seemed to have got away from a huge debt that I never knew anything about, and was prepared to pay for ( a bit like the marriage!!)

System

loulou111 wrote: »

I hope someone can help me!
Myself and my husband have just applied for tax credits again and have started to recieve our payments, which is all fine.

When did you stop claiming Tax credits?

sinstar

Why should HMRC have to find you? It is your responsibility to keep your claim up to date. Or would you rather your 'hard earned money' was spent employing more people to work with HMRC just so they can spend time & resources tracking down people who are too lazy to keep their details up to date? Making sure you keep everything up to date benefits YOU remember, it is YOU that is gaining something by receiving tax credits.

You assume I work for HMRC. Maybe I am just a concerned member of the public who can quite easily understand tax credits just by reading their own website, and like to advise people because if people stop doing things that result in them being overpaid tax credits, MY hard earned money would stop going to waste on people who are getting more than they are entitled to.