help with tax credit overpayment

loz25

hello all, right where do i start!!
i had a phone call today from a debt collection agency from dept of work and pensions telling me i owe £1792 for tax credits.
This is the first I have ever heard of it, no letters etc
The best thing is its from 2003 when my daughter was first born. Apparantly they sent me a giro cheque, in error, (their error!!) and now i have to pay it.

Are they allowed to leave it lie for this long, i thought there was a law that if any money is owed they have 5 yrs to claim it or else its written off.

The other thing apparantly this overpayment was for a joint claim but i am now seperated and they are asking me for the whole amount, do i really have to pay the whole lot back and the ex get off scott free??
Ive never had dealings with debt collectors so am finding the whole thing really distressing.

Ive always notified them if there has been a change in circumstance so how have they got this so wrong?? im confused

any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks all

System

TCO would have been writing to both you and your ex over the years about this overpayment and may have been collecting it back through your joint claim by reducing your payments. They have to write to both of you for the rest of the overpayment when the joint claim ceased due to your separation.

Your award notices over the years would have given details of the overpayment and the recovery of it via your ongoing joint claim.

TCO do not care who pays back an overpayment on a joint claim as long as they get it back. Your ex will have received the same demand.

If you think the overpayment was the fault of TCO and not you or your ex's then you can dispute the overpayment using a TC846 form - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/tc846.pdf

You need to get that in as soon as possible.

Murgatroyd21

Call tax credit helpline to clarify the details held on the system for overpayments owed, especially that it was from a joint clam. Contact the overpayment team to discuss the amount and, if you agree with the debt, you usually have the following options (you might want to discuss it with your previous partner if possible)

1 each of you pay half
2 each of you pay a different amount which you have agreed between you (i.e. 60-40)

Tax Credit Payment Helpline 0845 302 1429.


The normal way of dealing with joint claim overpayments is to ask each former partner to pay no more than half if no other agreement is made between them, or where the previous partner can't be found.

andyandflo

Murgatroyd21 wrote: »

The normal way of dealing with joint claim overpayments is to ask each former partner to pay no more than half if no other agreement is made between them, or where the previous partner can't be found.

Huh?

I think you may be wrong there. As it was a joint claim there is a joint and several liability.

Both parties are responsible for the debt. HMRC will not get into an argument as to who should pay what.

It's tough, but they will go for the soft option - the one that they know about. If the ex decides to ignore the demand, the other party will have to pay the whole lot. It is then up to that party to recover some of the money paid from the ex - that's if she can find him and he agrees!

DanE2010

andyandflo wrote: »

Huh?

I think you may be wrong there. As it was a joint claim there is a joint and several liability.

Both parties are responsible for the debt. HMRC will not get into an argument as to who should pay what.

It's tough, but they will go for the soft option - the one that they know about. If the ex decides to ignore the demand, the other party will have to pay the whole lot. It is then up to that party to recover some of the money paid from the ex - that's if she can find him and he agrees!

No that is correct they now only ask each to pay no more than half of the overpayment unless the two parties can work something out between themselves.

Murgatroyd21

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/things-go-wrong/overpayments/index.htm follow the link for You have separated and have a joint tax credits overpayment

loz25

many thanks all, i couldnt get through on the helpline (no surprises there!!) so i have sent them a letter instead, tco have never asked me for my ex's details and i have checked my previous award notices but they have never taken any money off any of them for an overpay.
however after a long conversation with the collections dept i was told that if i cannot afford to repay the money it will be deferred for a year. I will recieve a phonecall in a years time to see if i can then afford to pay it. If after 3 years it still has not been paid the debt will be wiped anyway, and thats coming from a debt collection dept for tco!!
This now begs the question that if a debt can be wiped after 3 years why are they asking for money from 7 years ago??
I hope this info will help others in the same position as me