Child Tax Credits and HMRC mistakes

steve811

I have been engaged in a written debate with HMRC regarding Child Tax credits. My salary changes every year on the 1st October, and as such I usually ring HMRC and tell them the new figures. This means that we usually get a reduction in CTC until April when they re-calculate and then the whole cycle starts again in October! However, I also get a pension from my service in the RAF. Many years ago I spoke to the HMRC helpline and was told I did not have to declare the pension as it was taxed at source and therfore not relevant. As such I never declared this. In April 2009 my wife recieved a single payment of £453 as they said we had been underpaid. We queeried this and was told it was correct. In August 2009 we got a letter from HMRC saying they had checked my income on my P60 and "found" my pension, and as such they would stop our CTC and we would have to repay a total of £1296!

I range the woman who wrote the letter and explained I had been told I did not have to declare the pension by HMRC staff and that it was their mistake that led to the overpayment. She agreed and said we would not have to repay the mmoney paid out in 2009, but we would have our figures re-calculated and we would be on a lower amount. I was happy with this, and we got a final decision notice in December 2009.

In July 2010 we recieved a backdated pay rise and I informed HMRC. They then wrote to us and told us we still owed the £1269 and would be stopping the tax credits altogether until it was repaid, which would take around 2 years! I wrote and appealed, stating the reasons above, we got a letter in August saying they were re-instating the tax credits untl they had investigated. Now yesterday I got a letter from them saying that they had investigated and listened to one phone call to the helpline (3 August 2009) and decided I was not given wrong advice! They have not mentioned the call I made to the woman who wrote the letter, nor the fact that I made several calls to the helpline not just one.

I don't mind that we have our CTC re-assessed and we don't know from one month to the next what my wife is getting in her account, I can live with that. What I am annoyed at is that HMRC take the stance that they are right and we are wrong based on one recorded call, and what is written on the file. It looks to me like they have not properly investigated this, and hope to get us to back down.

The letter states we have no right of appeal (true under the law) but we can ask for copies of the recordings and aask them to re-consider if there is new information or I feel they have not considered the information I have given them.

I have written back saying I am making a request for all information held to be released (this counts as an FOI request) but I doubt if they will release records, only records of calls. I have also asked them to provide proof I was not told I did not have to declare the pension, and that I was not told I did not have to repay the overpayment. How they can prove a negative is beyond me! In the meantime does anyone know of a good person to advise and possibly help fight this? :mad:

Murgatroyd21

Try your local CAB to begin with.

System

They will release all information requested by you such as recorded calls and correspondence.
However calls received by anyone other than contact centre staff are not recorded. If they were you would be forewarned prior to the line being answered so the call you made directly to the person I presume to be a compliance officer will probably not have been recorded. When you get the cd of all the recorded calls between you and the TCO helpline listen carefully to each one, find the one where you were misinformed, and then ask for a review of their decision not to remit the overpayment.

steve811

Thanks Pam, it was a compliance officer I spoke to, I still have the name, it will be interesting to see what they say when the documents arrive.