Tax Credit Overpayments Help & Discuss

Tapeman

Mmmmm, good old Tax Credits. What a hornets nest Martin's stirred up here!

Like so many others, we too were overpaid. Despite us sending at least 8 letters with all our details in black and white, despite us phoning even more times, despite us following their complaints route. And why were we overpaid, because despite having all the facts, they kept sending us four figure payments that clearly were incorrect.

We fortunately had a rough idea of what we were expecting to get, so kept this amount in our cheque account, and transferred the balance of the overpayment into a savings account. When it was finally sorted, we had the funds saved, so we were ok, but both myself and my wife are very savey at these things. We would have loved to have kept the overpayment, our new bathroom would have been in by now! But some parents don't have time, money or the patience to follow it through, and these are the ones i feel really sorry for.

As previously stated, we're told to apply, but of all the people i know that receive Tax Credits, only ONE family have received them without any problems!

All i can say to people is to stick with it. We have a pile of letters from the IR just in this tax year that stands over a foot tall, but finally we got it sorted by writing to the Directors office direct.

Finally, good luck to everyone as we're only three and a half weeks away from a new tax year.........:-(

irs101

I've yet to hear of a single tax credit overpayment being successfully enforced against anyone in a court of law.

I don't think we should be giving people a false sense of security. Overpayments only became collectable in September, so IR won't have taken anyone to court yet.

They've stated the situations in which they will write off an overpayment. As to whether they will bother to take the rest to court, it will depend on the amount owed and how silly it will make IR look.

Also remember that IR were expecting over 1 million families to be overpaid initially - completely legitimate overpayments. They will definitely collect these. So it is only the situations that IR has mucked up on that are in question here.

irs

Tapeman

Did anyone see the HM Paymester General on GMTV this morning? She was very, very adamant that Tax Credits work, and that only a few people have had problems.

From my own experience, as they don't follow there own complaints procedure, it's hardly surprising she thinks it works so well! Maybe everyone with problems should just write to her directly?!

Kevin_AdviceNI

Hi all, really interesting and lively discussion, just to add that we are sifting through the many messages posted on the adviceNI eCon on overpayments issue (https://www.adviceni.net) and although this is ongoing here are some of the main issues highlighted:

• Doubts as to the ability of the Inland Revenue to make the change from being an enforcement and collection organisation, to a support and distribution agency;
• Complexity of the tax credit scheme, including a widespread lack of understanding about how awards are calculated;
• Service delivery problems in relation to Telephone Helpline, including appropriateness, effectiveness and accessibility;
• Problems associated with the computer system, including an apparent inability to process change of circumstances information in many cases;
• Ineffective communication between Tax Credit Office and tax credit recipients;
• The eConsultation has highlighted an inability of the tax credit scheme to adopt to real life scenarios in many cases, including changing jobs, promotions, moving from benefit to work, relationship breakdown – despite information being provided by tax credit recipients;
• Shortcomings in relation to Award notices, multiple Award notices;
• Awards not based on current circumstances;
• The fact that overpayments are an integral part of the tax credit system. Awards are made on a yearly basis, therefore any change in circumstances during the year may already mean that there is an overpayment situation;
• Strong sense that recovery should be suspended, pending the outcome of the disputes process;
• Inland Revenue must take responsibility for their contribution to the overpayment problem, recovery should not be sought where the overpayment is due to Inland Revenue error;
• Recovery rates need to be reviewed (both in-year and end-of-year) so as to reduce hardship;
• Ineffective disputes process, including issues such as delays and lack of independence;

When report complete will post link to this site, many thanks, Kevin.

nikkita_2

hi lozz,just a quick reply to say that i checked out the law centre n.i page and found the info/calculator to be excellent.very helpful in sorting out tax credits......dont wanna sound up myself but i really do understand how it works now.i will be passing on the details to as many people as possible as i really believe this simplifies tax credits no end.thanks again xx

Hillyone

Oh God yes, what a shambles. What an ongoing shambles.

I spend several months during 2003 trying to get my Tax Credits sorted out and finally succeeded - with no thanks to the Helpline ("help"line - hah!!) - after contacting my MP and ultimately Dawn Primarolo, Paymaster General (who appeared on GMTV last week saying how well the system had worked!!!!! And many more !!!!!). To cut a long and sad story very short - the Tax Credit system had an acknowledged fault that meant that because my son had left school and registered with the Connexions service, my Credits (which should have continued for the first 20 weeks) were stopped - dead - without explanation. I eventually got my money, plus letter of apology, plus a small amount of compensation for my "distress".

Imagine my shock today to receive a letter demanding payment of £1,453 in "overpayments". Why on earth should I believe this figure, when my credits were looked into with a fine tooth comb and paid down to the last penny? How dare they just presume they can demand payment, when by their own admission, their system was faulty in dealing with my situation. Why should I believe them now?

I am first and foremost furious at this, and second - worried sick about how on earth I am supposed to find this sort of money, even given that they'll accept it in monthly doses. There appears to be nowhere one can turn in this situation.

Lozz

Hi Nikkita, no probs, glad it helped somebody.

Lozz x

alba01577

We had a stressful 19 months of fighting with the IR re overpayment. They ceased all payments to us in Aug 2002.

11 hours on the telephone, 8 letters and 5 faxes later - we finally won our appeal.

Just the satisfaction of having in writing that they admitted they made a mistake is enough.

Don't give up!!

moneynoviceat32

Just trying to get my head around the tax credits system in general I found it 2 be nearly but not quite as bad actually possibly on a par with the DWP (department for work and pensions) I will no go into detail but in general I have had the same problems with receiving my own personal rainforest from the tc office over the last 18 months. looking at the replies to this thread I would guess there out of the 52 + replies there are not many positive "wow I found that everyone I ever spoke to at the tax credits office to be extremely helpful and know exactly what I was talking about!". But the ultimate question is " is there anything we can do about it before it turns into the same situation as the CSA?" With that I mean 10 years before the government realise what a total shambles it really is. I am sorry but what was wrong with the previous tax system? Maybe I will get a few examples but truthfully nothing can be as shambolic as the last couple of years of the tax credits. The only people I know that haven't had any problems with them are the ones i know for sure lied through their teeth after pretending to be extremely stupid on the phone to "Suss it out"! and found the loopholes, so the theory is do a Jordan - pretend to be a dumb blonde!

kermitTfrog

I too have been over paid on child tax credits, for the second year running may i add! whats more annoying is that a friend of mine has 2 children now over the age of 12 years and their household income is more than mine but recieves over £500 a month from the CTC. i have 2 children under 3 years and have just had a bill to pay back £2150 in 1 month! but they are still not paying me a thing! my MP has tried to claim the awards for me but they are still not willing to pay.
I need to work to be able to pay our household bills etc but my wages would just cover my childcare costs, where is the logic in that? i'm not afraid to work and would do if they helped and made it worth while going back to work.
it makes me soooo angry :mad:
i just want to tell the tax credits to shove it where the sun doesn't shine! but then agian the CIB and my MP tell me i'm entitled to the money so keep on pursuing it!
it seems the IR have got us all exactly where they want us! I have always learn't from an early age that the IR are ***** and we should stay clear of them, i only wish i had never filled in the form to claim in the very first place!