Tax Credits repayment !!!!

Encantador

My partner and I were caught up in this farce a couple of years ago.
Although we filled in our income (both working) they sent us money so we spent it.

Months later they decided they wanted it back, when we queried it they said there must have been a `mark` on the form in the box that said we were claiming job seekers allowance, this would have invalidated the income figures in the other boxes.

Anyway, they now want us to telephone them with income and expenditure figures in order that we can `agree` an amount to repay each month.

Has anyone been through this and can advise on what the process is like and whether there is any `negotiation` during the phone call or does the computer just come up with a figure and that`s it.

Any other advice/suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance

nottslass_2

If you know that you filled in the form corrcectly,with your income details,to suddenly claim that "there must have been a mark on the form"(have they put this in writing?) seems a bit like they are cluthching at straws. tell them that you gave them all the correct infomation and a mistake was obviously made when processing your claim which quite frankly is their problem not yours! their code of practice states that if an over payment occured due to their error it is not repayable.
you may have a bit of a fight on your hands, go to the cab or your local mp if need be.

good luck

CIS

But the code of practise also states that any error on the award notice should be noticed by the claimant and therefore is not a reason a to write of an overpayment as the claimant should have noticed the payments being made where wrong.

For us to write off an overpayment you must be able to show that
the overpayment happened because:
• we made a mistake, and
• it was reasonable for you to think your payments were right.
This means that you must have checked your award notice when
you received it.

If you ask us to reconsider our decision to recover an
overpayment, amongst other things, we will:
• check our calculations are correct and based on the
information that you gave us,
• check that we did not instruct your employer to pay the wrong
amount of Working Tax Credit,
• check that we did not delay in using the information you
provided,
• look for any incorrect or missing details on your award notices
that we would have expected you to spot and to tell us about,
and
• consider your reasons for believing that your payments
were right.

Encantador

Yes, that`s the excuse they would use.

But how anybody is supposed to understand how the calculations are made is beyond me.

On TV recently they asked a University Challenge Team including 2 maths expert to try and complete the forms with supplied figures. You guessed it, they got it wrong after about 4 hours.

I take it no one has been through the repayment process???

speedyjoe

Well so long as your award notice doesn't mention that they thought you were on JSA then you should be in a good position to argue it was their fault.

If it is written there in black and white then I reckon you are pretty much stuffed. What does the award notce say?

Encantador

Thanks for the replies.

No idea what the form sais as it was 2 years ago. We have accepted we are stuffed hence the question about the payback process.

Thanks again.

Encantador

Purely by chance, have just found award notice fornthe year where we received the most money.

It says
"Mrs ?????? works 37 hours a week receives jobseekers allowance Iincome based"
Mr ????? Works 40 hour a week.

At the time we obviously missed the term `receives jobseekers allowance`, having both worked full time for many years we had no knowlege of under what circumstances you may get that allowance.

Seems stange to be able to get it whilst working full time, but presumably you must have been able to, anyone know???

Having missed that phrase and being confident we had given the correct work and salary figures we gladly accepted the money and spent it. Plus TV ads at the time were telling us we could get this benefit even if we were working full time.

You live and learn.

nottslass_2

income based jobseekers allowance is paid only to people who are unemployed,seeking work ,and have no other income .

hope this answers your question

barjam_2

child tax credit owe us money from dec to feb we keep trying and trying to get our backdated money but just cant seem to get it . all they keep saying is that its getting sorted..... now the last 2 weeks my hubby has had 2 extra payments put into his account which we though oh! this is it, this is how they are doing it. paying us weekly... oh no its not!!!!!! we have just had a letter saying they have over paid us and they will be lowering our money for the next 10 months to pay back or we could write a cheque for it:rotfl: whats so comical or annoying or both is that they still owe us money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but thats another dept................................:mad:

Encantador

If the income based jobseekers allowance is (and was) only for people who are unemployed than the term used on the form "Mrs ????? working 37 hours etc etc" does`nt make any sense.

They knew we were both working and what we were earning so surely this was their fault.

????

CIS

The overpayment was their fault in making the payment, but the rules state that any incorrect info on the award notice should be notified immediately, otherwise your are responsible for the payments made.

Think of it in the same way as a bank,if they make an extra payment in to your account in their error, even if you dont notify them they have the legal right to recover.