old tax credit overpayment

bel23_2

I've just got a letter from HMRC and it says that I owe over £400 from an overpayment of tax credits in 2004! I vaguely recollect them writing to me about this around 4 years ago and I ignored it and this is the first I've heard since. It says if I don't pay I'll go to court! Is this possible. I live in Scotland and I know if I hadn't acknowledged an old debt for 5 years or more I wouldn't have to pay, but is this different? At the time I was living with my ex-husband and we had 2 children. We were honest and kept HMRC up to date with his working hours and our circumstances. He claimed WTC and the CTC was in his name also and he still claims the CTC for our 2 children as we share custody 50/50 and he claims WTC for himself. My new partner claims WTC and we claim CTC for our other 2 children. Surely if anyone should have to pay it's my ex, since he is still continuing on the same claim? Is it best to ignore it ( I worry that by acknowledging the letter I'll give them more reason to pursue the money) or should I call them?

Help! Isabel

nannytone_2

why should it just be your ex? you both receivrd and used the tax credits.

a debt involving public funds is never forgiven.

DanE2010

Yep call them, your ex partner isnt in your old claim, he would of had to make a new single claim, when you claim tax credits as a couple your both sign the form and its in BOTH your names, therefore if there is any overpayment you are both responsible for it, they will only ask you to pay back half unless you can work out between yourselves who should pay it back, they dont care whether you actually recieved the money in your hands or not, the money was paid to your household that you were both in therefore legally your both responsible.

bel23_2

That asides though, why are they only asking for it now? Why not pursue it 4 or 5 years ago when they wrote and told me once about this? Seems a bit odd, makes me tempted to ignore it and see if they'll go away for a few more years, lol.

bel23_2

And you can't call them either, there's no one there! You go through a rigmarole of selecting options only to get told that all the advisors are busy and then you get cut off. I phoned several times a day for 3 months solid when my daughter was born to inform them of the change in circumstance and eventually gave up and wrote a letter.

DanE2010

I dunno why they are only asking for it now, you will need to either ring or write and ask them, its very hard to get thru to them so maybe write a letter, if you go on there website you can download the dispute forms if you want to dispute the overpayment if you dont agree with it, but obviously you need to find out what the overpayment is for before you dispute it, either way it isnt just gonna go away, you owe the money (well half of it) so ignoring it prob isnt the best option, get it sorted out once and for all and then you will stop getting letters out the blue about it.

bel23_2

Thing is I don't owe it though! It's their fault for giving me too much, £400 over a year or more you wouldn't notice it being an obvious overpayment. We were honest so they have misused the information we supplied and made their own mistakes, so I will dispute. Found a great site called tax credit casualties.

Hammyman

Debts to HMRC are not statute barred.

DanE2010

bel23 wrote: »

Thing is I don't owe it though! It's their fault for giving me too much, £400 over a year or more you wouldn't notice it being an obvious overpayment. We were honest so they have misused the information we supplied and made their own mistakes, so I will dispute. Found a great site called tax credit casualties.

How do you not owe it though? Even if they did give you too much you spent it and didnt question it, without knowing the specifics I cant say for certain, but if there was an award notice sent to you with information on it that was incorrect they will still hold you responsible because they say that the award notice is issued to you to make sure all the information is correct. Have you rang and asked them how it happend? Anyways if your certain you dont owe it then the best route is to dispute it, good luck and be prepared to wait quite a while for an answer.

fermi

Hammyman wrote: »

Debts to HMRC are not statute barred.

That ONLY applies to tax/duty.

Overpayments of Tax Credits CAN be statute barred.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/dmbm595080.htm

System

But action was taken within 6 years of the overpayment arising. The OP stated that she received a letter from them 4 years ago and ignored it.

TCO will be writing to both the OP and her ex and she can arrange to pay half of it if she wants.
TCO assume that couples make decisions together and that the couple will have discussed whose account any payments would be paid into before both of them signed and submitted the original claim form. That being the case both applicants are liable for any overpayment on a joint claim.