Tax Credits call 2 years later to tell me I owe them £400.00

Bettyboop

Hi,

Does anyone know how I can go about this please. I was a single parent separated from my husband for 12 months. Then I moved back to our marital home. I received 1 letter in 2007, asking for me to pay this sum of money, I disputed it then by going through all my financial details to do with work and employers to some lady on the phone. I also sent in a written letter explaining that I moved back here and possibly the amount they say I owe was an error? What I mean is, it's possible they looked it our incomes jointly and thought I wasn't entitled to anything. I have been completely honest and co-operative with the Inland Revenue and know whole heartedly that I don't owe them anything. It's not possible! Every single time I changed employers, working hours or childcare they were the first to be told.

Will have to give them a call tomorrow and dispute it. Does anyone know what I can do? Please don't say just pay it because if I did owe them I would of course but I really don't owe them a penny.

Thanks.

[Deleted User]

if thats their final decision then appeal against it.

Bettyboop

woodbine wrote: »

if thats their final decision then appeal against it.

As far as I'm aware it's their final decision. Going to try and call them again in a bit to try and get it sorted. It's quite a shock to get a call like this 2 years down the line... when just last week I shredded all my old paperwork etc. This is going to be so hard to sort out. Hope it doesn't take ages! Thanks

pupsicola

You normally get a month from recieving any letter to appeal. What paperwork have you shredded? If you still have your p60s etc then that details what you were earning. Bank statements would show what you recieved from them and earnt. So you can still prove where you were at financially.

Alot of hassle that you could no doubt do without though. They will have records of how you kept them so up to date as things changed for you.
So they dont really have a leg to stand on. If any errors have been made it would be their own.

Bit odd that its taken them this long to think there is any problem and for such an odd amount too.

Hope it all gets resolved.

Bettyboop

I hope it all gets resolved soon aswell. Talking to them today they say that this overpayment was caused by too much WTC and CTC being received. The lady I spoke to said that the form for appealing against will take about 10 days to get to me..talk about speed! Thanks for the tip about P60's, I really hope I still have them. I was always told that they should be kept for 1 year and then it's okay to destroy them. Bank statements going back 2 years I'm sure I can get from my bank, and in terms of financial details such as salaries etc I get this off the bank statement or contact previous employers who will have on record what I earned at the time. IR is such a mess and although I understand the government is broke, pursuing people who don't owe money in the first place is ridiculous. How cash strapped they must be!

[Deleted User]

Firstly, do you know what the reason for the overpayment is?

You cannot 100% guarantee it was the fault of HMRC if you do not have this information.

If you disputed it and this was unsuccessful you would have been issued with a letter explaining this. You will receive letters demanding the overpayment after a certain period of time if you have not arranged the recovery of the overpayment. Normally this will be after 31st July in most years.

If you can find out the reason for the overpayment you may find it is down to official error by HMRC and you can dispute on these grounds but until you have proof of some sort the debt will still be there.

skiTTish

I can top that !!
5 years and £1500 !!!!!

We have appealed and they have upheld but we are not paying ,we did everything right and I swear I will go to jail before paying !!

System

Bettyboop wrote: »

Thanks for the tip about P60's, I really hope I still have them. I was always told that they should be kept for 1 year and then it's okay to destroy them.

HMRC recommend holding on to P60's and P45's etc for 6 years as that's how far back they can ask to inspect your taxes and that's also how far back you can ask them to review your tax affairs.

Re your dispute I would recommend you actually get an official explanation from TCO as to how the overpayment occurred. Once you have that you can then dispute what they have told you.
It's far better to do it in writing (recorded delivery) as helpline staff do not have the time to go through every single award notice that was issued to you for the particular year especially if there have been numerous changes reported by you. The TCO staff who deal with disputes can take several hours examining every award notice and collating the payment figures before they can reach a decision as to whether the overpayment has to be repaid or not.

Bettyboop

skiTTish wrote: »

I can top that !!
5 years and £1500 !!!!!

We have appealed and they have upheld but we are not paying ,we did everything right and I swear I will go to jail before paying !!

A lot of the time I think IR are trying to fleece money from innocent families who rightfully kept them informed all the way! In may case I can only think my changes were not updated as they should have been which may be reason for the overpayment I don't know.

[Deleted User]

Why do people think there is a big conspiracy? HMRC are not trying to fleece or scam anyone. Errors can happen but it is not a conspiracy.

NASA_2

subsoniccoyote wrote: »

Why do people think there is a big conspiracy? HMRC are not trying to fleece or scam anyone. Errors can happen but it is not a conspiracy.

Especially when to 'fleece' people means raising an overpayment, which means financial error by the department, none of that looks good for anyone.