£8723 tax credits finally written off!!

homealone_2

my case started in 2003 and after literally dozens of letters, phone calls and appeals i finally got my case looked into and written off. i had been explaining for years that i was very ill throughout that and following year and had no knowledge of any money going in or out of my accounts. most of the days i was so high on drugs i barely knew my own name let alone my state of affairs, but no one listened. i involved citizens advice and they sent letters and the same with a peoples rightcharity and then contacted my MP but still kept getting bog standard replies saying nothing they could do unless i had new information that they previously had no account of. until one day when i accidentally ran across a new piece of legislation saying

"They may not ask you to pay back an overpayment if you contacted them to tell them about personal circumstances that meant you could not check your award notice or bank payments. For example you or a family member was seriously ill in hospital."

well!! that was exactly what i had been telling them for years. i wrote again but nothing...silence i then saw a program on tv where various people from both the tax department and others stated if anyone felt their case had not been looked into properly you could write to them and they would look into it. well i did this immediately and after only 4 days i received a letter from the tax credit department saying that although they sympathised with my predictament at the end of the day my husband could of either opened my post and dealt with it himself or he could have brought the letters into me in hospital and i could have then contacted them myself. i was livid, for one thing these were adressed to me so why were they even suggesting that my husband should open, read and then take it upon himself to contact them about this. BUT then under this letter was another from the director of taxes saying that on this occasion he could see how i would not have been able to conduct my own affairs and the whole amount would be written off. i cant even begin to tell how how relieved i was! it still meant i had other overpayments for other years, but thats a whole other story. i just wanted to let anyone in similar situation not to give up, if you feel you were not to blame for this fight and i will help anyone in any way i can

dmg24

So you were overpaid £8000 and you got it written off, and now you are boasting about it?

leveller2911

I take it you spent the overpayment? How you didn't know you were overpaid by so much amazes me.....Its not like its a few hundred quid, you took the money out without realising you were overpaid by over £8,000.......Happens to me all the time....

Just a thought but if you knew you were being overpaid why spend the money in the first place?

leveller2911

goffo wrote: »

I think what the poster is saying is that she was overpaid by more then £8,000, for which she had no knowledge of and/or was unable to check or deal with her tax affairs due to ill health.

That sounds quite reasonable. She had limited capacity.

I don't think she is boasting about it, but purely giving her story out so that others in the same position, would know of their rights to have their overpayments written off.

I do think you are trying to either insinuate something or belittle the OP - both of which are wrong.

She is as fully entitled to use the law as is everybody else to have the debt written off.

I'm eagerly waiting for the OP,s housing benefit over payment to be written off, maybe even other over payments too.

Its a typical example of why the tax credit system should/will be scrapped and replaced with a system that is 1/ fair and 2/ hopefully fraud proof.

The OP may well just be unlucky but having read through many of the OP,s posts I have my doubts .....

homealone_2

goffo wrote: »

I think what the poster is saying is that she was overpaid by more then £8,000, for which she had no knowledge of and/or was unable to check or deal with her tax affairs due to ill health.

That sounds quite reasonable. She had limited capacity.

I don't think she is boasting about it, but purely giving her story out so that others in the same position, would know of their rights to have their overpayments written off.

Good advice and a welcome change that at least one government department has seen some sense.

I do think you are trying to either insinuate something or belittle the OP - both of which are wrong.

She is as fully entitled to use the law as is everybody else to have the debt written off.

thanks you for your post. i appreciate someone seeing the bigger picture and not just jumping on here to condemn me. i certainly was not boasting!!! i was purely trying to give out some hope to others who are in a similar position. i only stated the facts and did not give any personal information on how the overpayment came about or how the money was spent. some people on here are far too quick to judge! in fact for those of you who felt i was getting one up on the system and sitting there enjoying my spoils. as i stated but was obviously so easily overlooked. i was in hospital for almost a year on and off, having very painful operations and being sedated for days on end and am still on large amounts of morphine. i couldnt even read a letter let alone answer one! and while in this state my husband left me taking every penny we had including money we didnt have. but funnily enough i did not feel i had to share that part of the story to defend myself as it was of no bearing to the help and advice i was trying to give when writing this post. i will certainly think twice before posting again!!

leveller2911

goffo wrote: »

No doubt she did spend the £8,000+, but she would not have known that she wasn't entitled to it by virtue of her limited capacity.

It was not until at a time later that she became aware that she was in fact not entitled to the money - hence it was an overpayment.

The recovery process should not continue if the claimant can show that at the time the money was paid to her she had limited capacity and would not have realised that it was being paid in error by HMRC.

Limited capacity to know how much money but not limited enough to spend it all..Just keep popping to the cashpoint/golden goose.

The OP is obviously using the system to her full benefit , not breaking any law but theres a moral question there.
Some would say "f*ck morals its dog eat dog out there" but if we all thought like that where would we be.

leveller2911

homealone wrote: »

thanks you for your post. i appreciate someone seeing the bigger picture and not just jumping on here to condemn me. i certainly was not boasting!!! i was purely trying to give out some hope to others who are in a similar position. i only stated the facts and did not give any personal information on how the overpayment came about or how the money was spent. some people on here are far too quick to judge! in fact for those of you who felt i was getting one up on the system and sitting there enjoying my spoils. as i stated but was obviously so easily overlooked. i was in hospital for almost a year on and off, having very painful operations and being sedated for days on end and am still on large amounts of morphine. i couldnt even read a letter let alone answer one! and while in this state my husband left me taking every penny we had including money we didnt have. but funnily enough i did not feel i had to share that part of the story to defend myself as it was of no bearing to the help and advice i was trying to give when writing this post. i will certainly think twice before posting again!!

My point is you were coherant enough to spend the money but not know how much it was? .Can I ask what time period the overpayments were for?

homealone_2

leveller2911 wrote: »

I'm eagerly waiting for the OP,s housing benefit over payment to be written off, maybe even other over payments too.

Its a typical example of why the tax credit system should/will be scrapped and replaced with a system that is 1/ fair and 2/ hopefully fraud proof.

The OP may well just be unlucky but having read through many of the OP,s posts I have my doubts .....

having taken a leaf from your own book and just read some of your many replies to people seeking help and advice, imho your time could have been better served, if you stepped down off your soap box long enough to realise that this forum was set up to help not criticise and condemn people. why not find your self a new hobby instead of jumping on here with your spite!

leveller2911

homealone wrote: »

having taken a leaf from your own book and just read some of your many replies to people seeking help and advice, imho your time could have been better served, if you stepped down off your soap box long enough to realise that this forum was set up to help not criticise and condemn people. why not find your self a new hobby instead of jumping on here with your spite!

No spite intended I can assure you, I actually blame the system for its failures and maybe I should emphasise that.

I'm not here to condemn people but it is a forum (a place for debate) you may not like what I say and I may not like your posts but I am man enough to admit my faults.My thanks count is around 3,000 so someone must think i'm helpful.

I spent many years in and out of Hospital and you have my sympathy but having read that you were too incoherant to know of an £8,000 over payment on tax credits but are coherant enough to go on Holidays, buy I-phones, wireless dongles for your laptop when on weekends away I do find it hard to believe that none of this was your fault.....Feel free to trawl through my post, I had an overpayment on tax credits for around £3k , i'm self employed and the system is not designed for self employed people but I'm paying it back...

I won't post again and my apologies if your offended and I wish you good luck for the future.

homealone_2

leveller2911 wrote: »

No spite intended I can assure you, I actually blame the system for its failures and maybe I should emphasise that.

I'm not here to condemn people but it is a forum (a place for debate) you may not like what I say and I may not like your posts but I am man enough to admit my faults.My thanks count is around 3,000 so someone must think i'm helpful.

I spent many years in and out of Hospital and you have my sympathy but having read that you were too incoherant to know of an £8,000 over payment on tax credits but are coherant enough to go on Holidays, buy I-phones, wireless dongles for your laptop when on weekends away I do find it hard to believe that none of this was your fault.....Feel free to trawl through my post, I had an overpayment on tax credits for around £3k , i'm self employed and the system is not designed for self employed people but I'm paying it back...

I won't post again and my apologies if your offended and I wish you good luck for the future.

i had intended to ignore any more of your posts but you seem to be hell bent on making this very personal.no one searchesd through someones posts to list items that i requested information on funnily enough that isnt the same as purchasing an item. when last checking i dont have a new dongle thing or a lap top. even if i did you seem to keep missing the point. I HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF IT GOING IN, IT WAS OVER A 13 MONTH PERIOD WHEN I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY HOUSEHOLD CHORES OR MONEY I DID NOT SEE A BANK STATEMENT AND IT WENT IN IN SMALL AMOUNTS. ALL OF WHICH INCLUDING SAVINGS, OVERDRAFT AND MONEY BOXES WERE TAKEN bY MY EX WHO LEFT ME WHILST IN HOSPITAL IN 2003. WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH A HOLIDAY 6 YEARS LATER. THEY HAVE SINCE MADE FURTHER OVERPAYMENTS WHICH I AM PAYING OFF AT £80 A MONTH SO I AM CERTAINLY NOT SOMEONE TRYING TO COMMIT FRAUD OR NOT TAKING RESPONSABILITY FOR REPAYING A FURTHER £4500. THIS I KNEW OF AND TOLD THEM YET THEY KEPT OVERPAYING ME FOR A YEAR! NOW PLEASE JUST GO AWAY. YOU HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN MAKING ME FEEL LIKE A CRIMINAL AND I WILL NOT COME ON THIS SITE AGAIN

atrixblue.-MFR-.

dmg24 wrote: »

So you were overpaid £8000 and you got it written off, and now you are boasting about it?

would it be different if she was asking advice about the overpayment and not knowing she had been overpaid due to limited copacity?

if you were involved in the advice and OP updated us with the result whould you say the above. thought NOT.