Tax credits overpayment to ex-girlfriend of 18 months ago..

carl0s

DX2 wrote: »

And yet you stayed with her for three years.
Interesting how you play the victim.

Trust me, she was like a terrier.. those teeth snarling.. I could never forget. I did spend way too much time on the computer though. That was my problem. I'm an Internet addict I think.

zagfles

carl0s wrote: »

She got a new job that paid ~£5k above the previous one. I made sure she informed them at the right time though. There was a short (2 month maybe) period where she was working as a temp through agencies, which muddied the figures a bit but I'm pretty sure we gave reasonably correct annual figures.
I am paid a small salary plus a dividend so my figures are/were awkward to predict, but my accountant told me what to put as a total.

I wonder if I would be able to go after her in small claims court for "not dividing up fairly, both during and after the relationship" ? I would rather just get on with my life, and have had no contact with her. I have ignored her nasty messages, and she got the point in the end and has left me alone, so I'd prefer to maintain zero contact and move on, but things like this are not helping me towards my target of buying a house this year. Its two weeks into the year and I have had this, and a private parking ticket of £147

£5k wouldn't cause an overpayment - there's a £25k disregard on income increases between one year and the next. I think you need to establish exactly how the overpayment arose and make sure they are working on correct figures.

halibut2209

carl0s wrote: »

That's not quite correct.
I can't choose not to claim it, without also stopping the partner claiming it.

Or should I say, one person can't make the choice without it also forcing the other person into the arrangement.

I'm pretty sure that a joint claim requires signatures from both parties. Should she continue a claim with your knowledge, then you both would be commiting an offence.

If she did it without your knowledge, then I'm not certain where the legalities would last. I would guess that the burden of proof would have been on you to prove that you had no knowledge.

carl0s

zagfles wrote: »

£5k wouldn't cause an overpayment - there's a £25k disregard on income increases between one year and the next. I think you need to establish exactly how the overpayment arose and make sure they are working on correct figures.

Thanks. I will do that.

carl0s

I just ... can't ... help .. thinking ... that it'd make more sense ... to take the money back from where they put it! You know, bank account.. sort code..

Sorry.

zagfles

carl0s wrote: »

I just ... can't ... help .. thinking ... that it'd make more sense ... to take the money back from where they put it! You know, bank account.. sort code..

Sorry.

Especially since, had there been an underpayment rather than an overpayment, guess what? She'd have got the lot and you wouldn't have seen a penny of it!

I'm afraid there's a lot of unfairness in the tax credits system

carl0s

zagfles wrote: »

Especially since, had there been an underpayment rather than an overpayment, guess what? She'd have got the lot and you wouldn't have seen a penny of it!

I'm afraid there's a lot of unfairness in the tax credits system

Unfair indeed!

No, I take that back.. they'd pay it into the joint account if things had been done the way they want from the start.

halibut2209

zagfles wrote: »

Especially since, had there been an underpayment rather than an overpayment, guess what? She'd have got the lot and you wouldn't have seen a penny of it!

I'm afraid there's a lot of unfairness in the tax credits system

Of course, as the money is given for the children and she (obviously in this case) has custody of them.

carl0s

halibut2209 wrote: »

Of course, as the money is given for the children and she (obviously in this case) has custody of them.

I thought it was given to the family unit, which was her and I? It's already been suggested that I benefited, and an underpayment would suggest that I personally have missed *my* benefit.
What if I had my own children now? Shouldn't I get my share of that money to aid with my children?
Since we're now "after the fact" of the family unit in question, my children and I are surely as much entitled to half of the underpayment credit as her and her children, are we not?

halibut2209

Yes, it's to the family unit, so when overpayments are made, it's the adults IN that family unit AT THE TIME that have to repay it. Should there have been an underpayment, then that money would go to where the family unit is AT THE TIME the payment is made.

Which is what I said