Tax Credit Overpayment Claim Concern

ConcernedOne_2

Hi there, I'm a long time frequenter, first time poster on the site.

My mother has recently been sent a letter out of the blue stating that she 'hasn't responded to a recent letter' and must pay back tax credit over-payment to the HMRC

After looking into it the last letter sent was way back in 2007, (this date was given to us by the HMRC) after looking into our own copies of letters we confirmed this.

It's of concern to my mother and I because according to our record of the conversations and correspondence, My mum actually paid back an agreed amount to the HMRC over a period of 12 months back in 2007/2008.

This was after multiple letters by the HMRC which gave us substantially different over-payment amounts each time in 2007 (the differences between the highest over-payment claim and the lowest was £68 to £11,000 when they were assessing us) Since the time mum and I verified the amount they wanted her to pay (around £4000 for both tax and child tax credits) we have heard nothing regarding it. this came out of the blue. To make it more confusing when we went to query this suddenly owed amount, the HMRC couldnt even access mums records as they has been archived and the general staff are not able to open them.

How they even know she owes this is confusing, they confirmed it was to do with tax credits and was from the period of 2006 (which was meant to be resolved in 2008 as explained above) but couldnt see anything else relating to the charge claim or mums record, just that there was a negative value against mums name.

when mum asked why they hadn't contacted her sooner they didn't have an answer either, they cant currently verify our payments as they cant access the records to deal with this claim. it seems they can only see a negative value and thats it. :mad:

Has anyone else had an issue similar to this, the last time mum got any payment/benefit was in 2006 (when i turned 18 and at the time mum deicded it was better to not have it anymore) she has not been claiming at all for 5/6 years, the original claims by the HMRC was meant to be resovled and we have confimed payments from bank records and correspondance at the time of a confirmed overpayment amount. its a bit worrying all in all!

any insight as to whether its possible to fight this would be appreciated I also wonder whether or not the government has a "cut off point" for being able to claim against over-payments, doesn't anyone know the legal implications of over-payment charges and how long they can be claimed for.

thanks in advance to all!

System

No point in politely insisting anything with the helpline if they can't access archived notes. Instead write in and ask for a full explanation of how the overpayment arose and what happend to repayments your mum made.
Doing it in writing gives the back office staff a chance to request the archived data before responding to your request. Send the letter recorded delivery.

HTH