Please help

scottjohnlucas

Hi

We submitted our working tax credits to HM Revenue & Customs on time and shortly had a letter and we could see that a mistake had been made. My wife contacted them before the cutoff date via the helpline and they confirmed that THEY had made a mistake doubling my wage amount and that they would re-evaluate it and it would be a problem but it can take up to 6 weeks. After chasing it up about two weeks ago at about 7 weeks of waiting we were told that we have to wait further and that they would get in touch.

Well today we have received a letter telling us that they made the final decision on the 14th of July and that the law does not allow us to change this. This has left us it a really bad situation and to make it worse their computer systems are down till next week. We are pulling our hair out as my wife will need to leave her job if we cannot sort this out due to childcare costs.

Please has anyone had experience of this type of issue which they have managed to resolve it? Can I contact anyone else?
Regards Scott

[Deleted User]

Did you complete the renewal on paper or by phone?

If you did it on paper I can almost guarantee that it was claimant error as the system will read what you have written. If it had missed some information that could be explained but it wouldn't add it on. My guess is that the income was entered in to the earnings box and then at the bottom box you entered a total of all income. The boxes are all added together by TCO, you are not asked to enter a total amount, so when you put the earnings figure AND a total figure it has added them together. Thus causing this problem.

If you renewed by phone you can appeal and ask for recording of the calls by submitting a SAR (subject access request).

In the mean time your award may still be based on the income declared (double the correct amount). You should call on Tuesday, as the systems are unavailable at the moment, and tell them you want to update your current year estimated income figures. As the estimate for the current year is going to be less than what is showing for last year they will use the estimate to calculate your tax credits.
Please ensure you don't underestimate as this could cause an overpayment.