Overpaid WTC

MrWillyWonka

Hello,

This is for my partner in regards to a single claim made before we started living together. Basically she has been told by the WTC team that she has to pay back nearly £1000 which is overpayment for two tax years.

The first overpayment of £450 is from 2009-2010 and OH has agreed that she will pay this back as she accepts the circumstances in which the overpayment arose. However, she (and I) do not accept the reasons for overpayment in the 2010-2011 tax year.

Basically, she left her job in May 2010 and we left the UK to travel the world for a year, she informed the WTC team that she has quit work and she was also certain that she informed them of our departure. A letter arrived for the annual declaration a week after we left the UK, but because she was away she could not fill it in. OH mother phoned the WTC team but she could not deal with her affairs so she sent a letter to them to inform them that we were away.

Fast forward a a year and a bit and OH recieved a letter demanding repayment due to the annual declaration not being returned. OH sent a letter back explaining the situation but apparently in the recorded message she did not mention leaving the country, she may have got confused with phoning DLA that she was leaving the country. In addition the team have not got a letter from OH mother recorded in the system.

Basically, what can we do or is there no option but to pay as we cannot prove that a letter was sent (no copy of it nor was it recorded delivery) and apparently WTC team was not informed of departure (she is pretty sure she did inform them).

cosmic-dust

MrWillyWonka wrote: »

Fast forward a a year and a bit and OH recieved a letter demanding repayment due to the annual declaration not being returned. OH sent a letter back explaining the situation but apparently in the recorded message she did not mention leaving the country, she may have got confused with phoning DLA that she was leaving the country. In addition the team have not got a letter from OH mother recorded in the system.

Basically, what can we do or is there no option but to pay as we cannot prove that a letter was sent (no copy of it nor was it recorded delivery) and apparently WTC team was not informed of departure (she is pretty sure she did inform them).

So she is pretty sure she informed TC that you left the country, yet there is no mention of leaving the country in the TC recorded message. I'm thinking you haven't got a leg to stand on sorry.

Why did you not do something until you came back? You must have noticed the payments going into your bank account.

lovetowinacar

Agree with previous poster - did you not notice that payments were going into your bank account? Did you spend the money or is it still in the bank account? If you were out of the country and receiving money did you not think this was odd?

If you feel it is wrong then complain butif you had the money when you should not have done then yes you should repay it, afterall WTC - working tax credit is for people who are working and on a low income in this country not people who have gone abroad for whatever reason.

Cherry_Bomb

Surely the money is still in the bank so can easily be repaid?

Or shall I assume that's not the case?

nannytone_2

i'm not sure that the OP is saying that wtc was being paid.
im reading it as because the end of year declaration wasnt filled in, then HMRC want all the money back that had been paid in the tax year upto april 2010.

System

I think the 2010/2011 overpayment is from the 10/11 provisional payments paid into the bank account from 6th April 2010 until the end of August 2010. They would have ceased when the 09/10 annual declaration was not submitted by 31st July 2010.

MrWillyWonka

nannytone and Pam17 are both correct that the overpayment was due to the non return of the annual declaration. When OH phoned, the payments stopped immediately.

A letter was sent by OH mother but they claim not to have received it.

50Twuncle

MrWillyWonka wrote: »

nannytone and Pam17 are both correct that the overpayment was due to the non return of the annual declaration. When OH phoned, the payments stopped immediately.

A letter was sent by OH mother but they claim not to have received it.

ALWAYS use "Recorded Delivery" for letters sent to HMRC - This will "cover your back", as far as proof that "something" was sent to a particular department on a particular day....