Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!

newlywed

Snagglepuss wrote:

I really feel for you, the tax credit system is a nightmare! We've been overpaid too apparently but it's so confusing I can't work out if they're right or not (and I'm really not all that thick!!). I've recently renewed my claim, and got 6 envelopes full of stuff from them - each of which says to check the information is correct - but each of which seem to contradict each other. They only ever paid us about £1500 but at one point told us we'd been overpaid by £1100, which would be deducted from subsequent years claims. This means I wont get any more until at least the end of 2007. Quite honestly, it was so much effort I don't think I'll every claim them again. Hope you manage to get it sorted with them xx

I'm glad it's not just us then! OH is self employed so every year everything gets updated as he never earns the same two years running. In just one week, we got 8 tax credits forms covering 3 years listing entitlement, over/under payments. Every single one contradicted the other. Some said they owed him, others that he owed them. Still waiting for them to work out the final figures want and then we'll sort out payment.

It's a nightmare to try and work out what they're doing and where they got their figures from. He's stopped the payments and not claiming again as it's just too much hassle working out which form is right! Income tax makes more sense to me!!

msmicawber

PS I meant to say that it may not increase what they're paying you now (it hasn't with me), but may well get the overpayment wiped off for you.

lil'H

My friend had this and offered them 50p a week in repayment, and told them as it was there error and this was all she could afford it would be that or nothing. She even made them give her loads of prepaid council envelopes and posted the 50p cheque in each week just to annoy them! Think her total bill was around £400, so thats a lot of cheque opening for the council!

lil'H

SAP_Saver

lil'H wrote:

thats a lot of cheque opening for the council!
lil'H

ha ha ha....

cattie1

haha ha-thats great! i am totally gonna do that just to p~~~ them off!
i hate them so much.
it's ok snaglepuss the tax credits are also a prob -i'm already paying £300 in instalment-from 2004 that they just told me about this year!
as for child benefit i don't think i have included that! uh oh!
i heard somewhere that as from this tax year you don't have to repay any overpayments under £1700 that they have made as a mistake as long as your info ws correct-or something like that!
thanks every1

nottslass_2

Hi, is the overpayment in respect of housing benifit and have they admitted that the error is their fault ? if an administration error is made by them and you had supplied all the correct paper work for the council to asses your claim the overpayment is not recoverable. If you have a look at https://www.rightsnet.org and then go into the "tool" kit section you should be able to find the housing/council tax benifit legislation which will explain what they can and cannot recover (sorry unable to do links)

hope this helps and good luck

tobedifferent

Hi,

With regard to your housing benefit Nottslass is right that if it is their fault you dont have to repay the benefit PROVIDING that you could not have been 'reasonably aware that you were being overpaid.'

Unfortunately this means if they sent you a letter or notification with the incorrect details and you did not pick up on it then it becomes recoverable because you could not find the relevant info on the 67876554 pages of gobbledegook they sent you. I've always said that the first page of your benefit should read in large bold letters details of the income etc used in the calculation, it shouldn't be tucked away with all these complex calculations.
It would save everyone time and stress if they had done this.

If you're not sure then appeal against the decision and ask for copies of your correspondence regarding your income and the correspondence they have sent you. I've worked in benefits and while my answer may not be conclusive I might be able to find you an angle once you've got this info so feel free to PM me and we could go through it over the phone if you want.

I wouldn't worry too much about the child benefit, they don't ask you to complete that you are receiving it as such but when you complete your kids details on the form they ask you to tick if you are getting the CB for them. They should be querying anything left blank or incomplete.

Everyone also remember that, at least with housing benefit, you have the right to take your appeal to tribunal in all circumstances.