Working family tax credits nightmare!

maddipops

post has been removed

DaisyFlower

So you completed the form wrong and then didnt check the aware notice and its only "partly" your fault!!!

They wont write off the overpayment, after all why should they when it was your error and you have benefited.

Perhaps instead of looking at ways to get out of paying you could look at ways to meet the overpayment faster, you could work around your partner etc to boost the household income.

Morgan_Ree

Fact is you're not going to get out of paying this overpayment back so I wouldn't waste your energy going down that route.

I appreciate these forms are difficult to understand but it's no excuse really. You would have thought the words income support would have jumped out at you first off.

Anyway have you contacted TC to say you're having some financial problems so could the payments be lowered slightly until you've got things sorted?

Duncombe

maddipops wrote: »

I also read somewhere that if you're struggling to pay it and you are on low income they can even consider writing off the overpayment,

Where did you read this? You have to remember that to qualify for WTC you have to be on a low income therefore most people would struggle to repay an overpayment. I doubt very much HMRC would happily agree to write off all overpayments on these criteria alone!

As Daisy said, unfortunatly you filled in the form incorrectly and this lead to your overpayment. I know you say its only "one little tick", but it would have been just as easy for you to read the paperwork correctly and not tick the box.

It is your responsibility to check your award notices and by your own admission you didn't do this.

The only thing I can suggest you do, is try to find ways to curb your spending and free up some money to pay back what your owe. Discussing with HMRC and setting up some sort of payment plan will also help.

Duncombe

Suggesting proactive ways for you to repay the money you owe faster is not abuse. Comments like that will not do you any favours on a forum like this.

maddipops

I have this snippet

Section 2 – the 'ongoing recovery' process
Process

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Where a customer has an overpayment in an ongoing award, recovery of the overpayment is automatic. The automatic rates of recovery are set at 10 per cent, 25 per cent or 100 per cent and applied as set out in section 1. These rates are designed to avoid the reduction in payments causing financial difficulty to the customer.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]and[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial]Customer is unable to meet living expenses [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]As explained in the introduction, HMRC can recover overpayments from customers in two ways: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]recovery from an ongoing tax credits award [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]direct recovery [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial]Benefits and Credits manage the process for recovery from an ongoing award. The customer should call the Tax Credits Helpline (0845 300 3900) for any queries about recovery from an ongoing award. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial]DMB manage the direct recovery process including cases where a customer cannot afford to repay an overpayment. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial]If the DMTC establish that a customer cannot currently make an arrangement to repay an overpayment and meet their living expenses at the same time they will refer the case to the DTO. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial]The DTO will look at each case on its own merits and at the ability of the customer to make repayments. COP 26 underpins this activity. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]The DTO may need to phone the customer to obtain documentary evidence of income and expenditure details. If the DTO cannot contact the customer by phone it will write and ask the customer to get in touch. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]The letter will have the phone number of the DTO. If the customer gets in touch, the DTO will discuss the current income and expenditure to establish whether anything has changed since initial contact with the customer. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]In some cases the DTO will set a date for a further review, usually 12 months but shorter if appropriate, if the customer’s circumstances are expected to change (for example by returning to employment or self-employment). [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Arial]If the customer still does not have the means to clear the overpayment, and there is little prospect of the position changing then the DTO will consider remitting the overpayment. The customer will be informed, by letter, of the outcome. [/FONT]

[/FONT]

this is taken from hmrc's website directly, they wont let me post the link because im a new user.

[/FONT][/FONT]

Morgan_Ree

I imagine that relates to overpayments caused by a TC mistake.
Your overpayment occured through your own mistake. They will look at your case differently

Like I and others have said don't waste your time trying to get out of paying it. You won't get out of it. Concentrate your efforts on affording the repayments. Perhaps post an SOA if you're having real trouble?

Duncombe

You owe £3000. Not £300,000. The latter might be an unrecoverable amount given its size, £3000 however is not. Particularly given that you have a partner who works and you have a household income of approx £16k ish a year.

Morgan_Ree

maddipops wrote: »

Try to open your mind and look at it differently.

Let's say for example you were filling out a job application and on page 6 it said.... Have you ever been dismissed from a job in the last 3 years? and you ticked yes.

Then on page 7 it said - if you have ever been dismissed from a job in the last 3 years please tick yes, and I tick no..

What would you do if you were sifting my application?

Would you call and say that there is conflicting info? Or would you just employ me?

Surely the onus is on them to make sure the claim form makes sense!?

The forms are read by a computer. Not a person. Quite clearly the computer is not able to recognse conflicting info and simply processes the answers given. You can't expect them to have to hold your hand whilst filling a form out?

You really need to get this idea it was their fault out of your head.
It wasn't there fault. It was yours. You need to work out what repayments you can afford then speak to TC and see if they are willing to accept them.

Duncombe

Maddipops - you clearly want people to tell you "Yes HMRC made a mistake and you should get to keep £3000 you wern't entitled to".

Nobody here is going to tell you that and any adivce we give you is going to fall on deaf ears.

I give up.

creamegg112

i read somewhere they reconsider if you have children and you are struggling to live... im trying to think where i saw that information! ill let u know (it was on the internet)