tax credit compliance letter recieved...HELP!

System

Good point martin forum. :T
I forgot about the off setting. It have heard of that happening and it basically means that if the new joint claim is backdated for 93 days then rather than pay that lump sum out TCO will set that against any overpayment that may have accrued on the old single claim due to failure to notify them of the change in circumstances.

Welcome to the forum

no-oneknowsme

Pam17 wrote: »

I know no-oneknowsme is not advocating lying in the post but just in case the Op's friend thinks about doing this they need to remember that HMRC can check with PAYE and Self-assessment records and DWP records and access the date that people changed address. That could possibly be the reason compliance are investigating their claim. The Op's friend needs to come clean and TCO will cease their single claim accordingly and they can make a new claim together which will be backdated a maximum of 93 days.

If they moved in together more than 93 days ago then the OP will have an overpayment for the period between those dates which will have to be repaid.

Totally agree with you pam!

The point i was making to the OP is that if they dont tell HMRC the truth now , she will spend her future worrying about (not if but) when HMRC actually will find out the truth.

OP, make sure your friend knows that its always better to admit things yourself rather than allowing HMRC to find out through investigation.

I know that if it were me in this situation i would rather live with peace of mind .

themonkeybutler

Why dont people just tell the truth to start with? Society is in a bad state.

suburbanwifey

This type of thing makes me sick, but I am no grass so I have never reported what I know about one person.

This woman works full time and lived with her BF and her daughter in their mortgaged house. Finances were getting tight, so her BF decided it would work if they 'officially' split up. His GF phoned tax credits and said her BF had left her, he told people he was living with his mam in a house down the road.

They continued to live together and within weeks she started receiving an extra £500 per month in tax credits.....they boasted to someone they know, that knows me that they now had £400 per month just to spend on anything - so they divided it up and had £200 each to spend on clothes, going out, movies, meals etc....this has gone on for over 2 years now...

They still live in the same house, they have the biggest plasma you could imagine, have more spare cash than anyone they know and none of the fraud agencies have caught them...it makes me want to vomit, especially how easy it is and how really there is little chance they will get caught.

Benefit Fraud hotline caters mainly to job seekers allowance fraud, no one caters to tax credit fraud and it is fraud as they are a couple, who are now receiving an extra £500 per month because they lie and say they live apart....

But no, I haven't shopped them, why? because they could guess it was me and then I'd have a whole heap of hassle to deal with...I keep assuming they will get caught but 2 years on and no, they are still doing it.

They make it look easy, and it is. That is the problem, no one checks up on them.

DX2

Tax credit fraud

The Tax Credit Office takes the issue of tax credit fraud very seriously and aims to run a tax credits system that you can trust to support you.

What the Tax Credit Office is doing to stop fraud


The Tax Credit Office works hard to protect you and the system against the risk of fraud by:

• regularly checking the details given on claim forms
• checking with childcare providers that the details given are right
• working closely with organisations like the Department for Work and Pensions, the Police, and the Immigration Service
• working closely with the British Banking Association to find bank accounts that are being used for tax credit fraud

When they work with other organisations, they'll make sure they comply with data protection laws.


Types of fraud investigations


When the Tax Credit Office discovers a case of fraud they can:

• charge a financial penalty
• prosecute

There are two types of investigation they can use to deal with tax credit fraud:

• civil investigations
• criminal investigations

Civil investigations

The aim of a civil investigation is to get back any tax credits payments that have been falsely claimed through fraud, along with any interest. The Tax Credit Office will also charge a financial penalty. A civil investigation does not prosecute.

The Tax Credit Office will offer a person the chance to co-operate with them and tell them all the facts. This is known as making a full disclosure. To encourage someone to co-operate with them, they'll consider lowering their penalty. The amount they'll lower it by depends on why the penalty's being charged:

• if it's for giving wrong information they'll reduce it by up to 50 per cent
• if it's for not telling them about a change in circumstances, the amount they'll reduce it by depends on if it's the first time it's happened and the amounts involved

When the Tax Credit Office is sure the person responsible has told them all the facts about the fraud, they'll work out how much the person has to pay.

Criminal investigations


The Tax Credit Office tries to deal with tax credit fraud using civil investigations whenever possible. They'll only use criminal investigations in very serious cases where:

• they want to send a strong message to stop other people from trying the same thing
• the person has acted in a way that makes a criminal investigation the only option

Serious cases include:

• organised tax credit fraud
• where false statements have been made
• where fake documents have been given to the Tax Credit Office
• where people claiming tax credit have hidden information from the Tax Credit Office or misled them on purpose
• where someone's carried out the same type of offence before
• where there's proof that Tax Credit Office staff have been assaulted or threatened
• where people have pretended to be their employees

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/things-go-wrong/complaints-appeals/fraud.htm

no-oneknowsme

The above post from DX2 is very informative and i really wish it happened, but as one of the posters mentioned before , tax credits seems to be the one benefit which a lot of people get away with fraudulantly claiming.

I mean , quite regularly in my area i hear of people being caught claiming income support , jsa , Dla etc that they are not entitled to but i have never once heard of anyone being caught claiming tax credits they are not entitled to i i know quite a few who dont declare their full income .

Before anyone says "why not report them then?" , the area i live in doesnt tolerate people "grassing" on each other and if i were ever found out , it would be myself and my family who would suffer , not the benefit cheat ! Wrong i know but thats how it is !

suburbanwifey

DX2 wrote: »

Tax credit fraud

The Tax Credit Office takes the issue of tax credit fraud very seriously and aims to run a tax credits system that you can trust to support you.

What the Tax Credit Office is doing to stop fraud


The Tax Credit Office works hard to protect you and the system against the risk of fraud by:

• regularly checking the details given on claim forms
• checking with childcare providers that the details given are right
• working closely with organisations like the Department for Work and Pensions, the Police, and the Immigration Service
• working closely with the British Banking Association to find bank accounts that are being used for tax credit fraud

When they work with other organisations, they'll make sure they comply with data protection laws.


Types of fraud investigations


When the Tax Credit Office discovers a case of fraud they can:

• charge a financial penalty
• prosecute

There are two types of investigation they can use to deal with tax credit fraud:

• civil investigations
• criminal investigations

Civil investigations

The aim of a civil investigation is to get back any tax credits payments that have been falsely claimed through fraud, along with any interest. The Tax Credit Office will also charge a financial penalty. A civil investigation does not prosecute.

The Tax Credit Office will offer a person the chance to co-operate with them and tell them all the facts. This is known as making a full disclosure. To encourage someone to co-operate with them, they'll consider lowering their penalty. The amount they'll lower it by depends on why the penalty's being charged:

• if it's for giving wrong information they'll reduce it by up to 50 per cent
• if it's for not telling them about a change in circumstances, the amount they'll reduce it by depends on if it's the first time it's happened and the amounts involved

When the Tax Credit Office is sure the person responsible has told them all the facts about the fraud, they'll work out how much the person has to pay.

Criminal investigations


The Tax Credit Office tries to deal with tax credit fraud using civil investigations whenever possible. They'll only use criminal investigations in very serious cases where:

• they want to send a strong message to stop other people from trying the same thing
• the person has acted in a way that makes a criminal investigation the only option

Serious cases include:

• organised tax credit fraud
• where false statements have been made
• where fake documents have been given to the Tax Credit Office
• where people claiming tax credit have hidden information from the Tax Credit Office or misled them on purpose
• where someone's carried out the same type of offence before
• where there's proof that Tax Credit Office staff have been assaulted or threatened
• where people have pretended to be their employees

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/things-go-wrong/complaints-appeals/fraud.htm

There is no number for them on that page anywhere though is there? no dedicated tax credit fraud hotline to phone. I know someone who tried to report tax credit fraud via the benefit fraud hotline, they said 'not our dept. you can can't report that here' so the whole system is flawed and designed to make tax credit fraud virtually fool-proof....like the last poster said, how many of us have heard of ANYONE getting caught locally to us for tax credit fraud?

I've given an example of someone I KNOW and it could be PROVED just by a few days surveillance (and checking their mortgages details ie: both have same address, checking his address details at his work etc..same address as his GF and baby.....

The only people the Govt. persue with any type of interest (fraud investigators or reporting hotlines) is JSA, DLA, InCap fraud etc...this needs looking at.

no-oneknowsme

Couldnt agree more Suburbanwifey!

BLT_2

jengadreads wrote: »

hi there.

i would also like to add that this has made my friend want to come clean and make a claim as a couple but only once this has been dealt with incase any fines will be made against her.

It's amazing how getting caught stealing will make you want to do that

Oops, sorry, she only wants to come clean once she finds out what the penalty will be, up until that point she wants to keep defrauding the system

System

If you follow the link that DX2 included in their post at the very bottom of the HMRC Tax credit page is another link which takes you to this page on the DirectGov website which gives you details of how to report any type of benefit fraud.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BenefitFraud/DG_10014876

Failing this TCO can take reports of fraud via the helpline (0845 300 3900) too. The helpline advisor can pass the relevant information on to the Compliance section.