Cancelling tax credits

xfactorfan

I have just cancelled my tax credits as I have had yet another overpayment letter and totaly fed up :mad:

Has anybody else cancelled tax credits and if so how long did it take for them to stop making payments and stop demanding overpayments back??

lorelai34

How did you cancel your tax credits? You can't as far as I'm aware cancel a claim part the way through a tax year year eg if you called today they would continue paying until the tax year is over and then stop. That would be referred to as withdrawing your claim. Or if you made a change of circumstances which would end your eligibility then the payments will end as soon as possible. Either way if they are saying you have been overpaid you will either need to make an arrangement to pay it back or if you disagree with that you would need to formally dispute the overpayment.

AnxiousMum

If you have an overpayment to pay, then surely keeping your claim open, reporting information accurately, then they can take the overpayment out of the payments they would be sending you. If you just end your claim at the end of this tax year, they won't ignore the fact you owe them for overpayments, but they will make sure that arrangements are made for them to be repaid, AND you'll be missing the tax credits you would be receiving as well - so a double whammy.
I also thought you could only end the claim with a change of circumstances and then start a new one, or at the very least, at the end of the financial year so that they have full information on the claim to ensure proper payments.

AimeesMum_2

I can't understand why you would cancel your claim. Cancelling it doesn't make the overpayment go away...sorry but this makes no sense :S

xfactorfan

I know that I am going to keep receiving payments until april and I am happy enough to pay back any overpayments but what I ment was I want to cancel tax credits completely as I get overpayment demands ever year and am totaly fed up.

Sorry If I was not very clear but I have withdrawn the claim and hopefully they can give me a bill for any overpayments made and then hopefully that will be it and I will not have to deal with them ever again

kelloggs36

why is this happening? Do you underestimate your earnings or have many changes in circumstances? if you have told them everything and they have overpaid you then you shouldn't have to pay it back.

xfactorfan

Thankfully got the overpayment bill in this morning and tax credits have confirmed that after april I wont get any more payments from them so glad it has all been sortted now I have payed it all up

iya3

How long did it take you to cancel/withdraw your claim?

I phoned today to withdraw my claim, because I'm moving out of the country (possibly) by August. I know August is a long way away, but I also know that if I withdraw mid year, I would have to pay back all the money received for the whole year, which would be a lot. I would rather cancel it now and if I end up not moving, I apply for it again in future.

I couldn't withdraw today because their system was down, and the lady told me she needed to tell me the implications of withdrawing! Sounds like she wanted to force me to claim tax credits!

What do you think?