Tax Credit Advisor here to help

clare1076

Hi i wonder if you could help.

My husband and i split up at the beginning on January and i wrote to the tax credits dept with my change of circumstances and never heard anything back from them, so at the beginning of February i called them and they had no record of my letter even though they changed my address which i had also put in the letter, they said i had to make a new claim as a single person and they would send out the forms. I filled in the forms and they said they received them on 29/02/08, i asked how long it usually takes to fo through and she said about two weeks, which was Friday just gone. I haven't yet received a letter. I desperately need to know when i should receive the first payment and will it be backdated to the date i telephoned to inform them or is it from the date they received my form.

VixAsh

subsoniccoyote wrote: »

For Tax Credits, you also can deduct the first £4250 per year from the Rent a Room Scheme.
So effectively you could rent a romm in your own home out to someone for around £80 p/w without having to declare this income to TCO.

Thank you so much for that - its a relief to know!

[Deleted User]

aaroncaz wrote: »

Hi, I was wondering( I may be wrong!!)if you have been overpaid on your tax credits, how long, can the take/reclaim the money off you for? I heard it was a year?

They can make an arranegement to pay it over 12 months no questions asked.
If you need more than 12 months they will ask you to complete an income/expenditure form to discuss how much will be re-paid over how long.

[Deleted User]

clare1076 wrote: »

Hi i wonder if you could help.

My husband and i split up at the beginning on January and i wrote to the tax credits dept with my change of circumstances and never heard anything back from them, so at the beginning of February i called them and they had no record of my letter even though they changed my address which i had also put in the letter, they said i had to make a new claim as a single person and they would send out the forms. I filled in the forms and they said they received them on 29/02/08, i asked how long it usually takes to fo through and she said about two weeks, which was Friday just gone. I haven't yet received a letter. I desperately need to know when i should receive the first payment and will it be backdated to the date i telephoned to inform them or is it from the date they received my form.

Sorry to inform you but you will probably be overpaid from the date you seperated from your partner.

They may not have received the letter you sent, the change of address may have come through the Child Benefit Office if you notified them you moved.

It can take longer to process if you have been in a previous award.
You should call up to progress chase he claim as they may just need to confirm something to process your claim.

There may also be a compliance investigation on your claim - this is normal to happen on claims that have recently changed. They will NOT inform you that there is compliance interest on the claim as they are not allowed to.

Your claim should be backdated to the date your joint claim ended (you may request this once your claim has been processed if it is not automatically done).

I would advise calling up to pay back the overpayment when your backdated payment has been made.

[Deleted User]

Could any more Tax Credit queries please be asked in individual threads as it is easier to answer them without getting confused with other peoples questions.

grumblesheeve

Hi all
Hope you can help with this problem created by the idiot I spoke to over 5 years ago and is still ongoing.

Separated from my ex-wife but having a very young daughter, I thought I'd give the tax credit office a call one day out the blue. A lady at the other end of the phone said that i would be entitled to claim, albeit for a tiny amount but nonetheless a few pennies more in my pocket she said. At no point during the conversation did I say that my daughter was living with me, I was asked but I said no.

I duly waited for the payment to arrive and to my shock it was for £148 a month. not believing this figure i rang the TCO and they confirmed that the amount was correct. How i asked, as my daughter didn't live with me. Well that's what you are entitled to another lady said. Fair enough i thought but after hearing a few horror stories I put this money to one side.

Two days later i received another cheque for £440, which was classed as a back-dated payment. Once again i rang the TCO to confirm that this was correct and again i was told by another person that this money was indeed mine.

Yippee i thought. I mean I contacted them twice and each time they have confirmed the money was mine. So, Imagine my shock and horror when 4 months later I received a letter asking for £588.91 back. Obviously I had spent the cash on my daughter as i was told twice that the money was mine.

I duly contacted them and spoke to another person there and explained the situation. They said leave it with them and they'll sort it.

18 months later i get another letter asking for the money back. Once again i rang and spoke to another person and yet again i explained the situation. They said they'd go and sort it.

This went on and on until a person at TCO suggested i complete an appeal form, which i duly did. I heard nothing back. I chased them and they said they had nothing. i sent it again and never heard anything back from them.

Now, 2 years further on and without warning I have a letter headed "Notice Warning of Legal Proceedings"

As you can imagine I am pretty peeved to get this letter especially as i am waiting for the results of the appeal I launched, after writing a very detailed letter of everything that has gone on over the years.

Can anyone help me as to what i can do next with the seemingly robotic people I always end up speaking to. I am at my wits end because of this. Obviously I will call them and play merry hell with them yet again but shall i contact my MP over this? Can i ask for the transcripts of the conversations as i believe all calls are recorded for "quality and training" purposes. (What a load of crap that is. Working for a telecoms company (no, not that one! lol) i know the score with this quality and training malarkey. Calls are recorded to save litigation and prevent fraud cases.)

Sorry it's long-winded but felt it was best to explain everything to reduce any un-necessary questions and speed things up.

Thank you in advance

misstiddlypeeps

hi please could you give me some idea of when ill receive my money,i received a letter on the 22nd feb saying i was due a working tax credit run on payment on the 25th feb,after numerous phone calls i still havnt received a cheque..they said its been authorized but they cant tell me when it will be posted surely they must be able to find out??

[Deleted User]

misstiddlypeeps wrote: »

hi please could you give me some idea of when ill receive my money,i received a letter on the 22nd feb saying i was due a working tax credit run on payment on the 25th feb,after numerous phone calls i still havnt received a cheque..they said its been authorized but they cant tell me when it will be posted surely they must be able to find out??

There is a backlog so they dont have information to give on these. If it doesnt arrive within 4 weeks of the date on the letter you should call them up to report it missing.

[Deleted User]

grumblesheeve wrote: »

Hi all
Hope you can help with this problem created by the idiot I spoke to over 5 years ago and is still ongoing.

Separated from my ex-wife but having a very young daughter, I thought I'd give the tax credit office a call one day out the blue. A lady at the other end of the phone said that i would be entitled to claim, albeit for a tiny amount but nonetheless a few pennies more in my pocket she said. At no point during the conversation did I say that my daughter was living with me, I was asked but I said no.

I duly waited for the payment to arrive and to my shock it was for £148 a month. not believing this figure i rang the TCO and they confirmed that the amount was correct. How i asked, as my daughter didn't live with me. Well that's what you are entitled to another lady said. Fair enough i thought but after hearing a few horror stories I put this money to one side.

Two days later i received another cheque for £440, which was classed as a back-dated payment. Once again i rang the TCO to confirm that this was correct and again i was told by another person that this money was indeed mine.

Yippee i thought. I mean I contacted them twice and each time they have confirmed the money was mine. So, Imagine my shock and horror when 4 months later I received a letter asking for £588.91 back. Obviously I had spent the cash on my daughter as i was told twice that the money was mine.

I duly contacted them and spoke to another person there and explained the situation. They said leave it with them and they'll sort it.

18 months later i get another letter asking for the money back. Once again i rang and spoke to another person and yet again i explained the situation. They said they'd go and sort it.

This went on and on until a person at TCO suggested i complete an appeal form, which i duly did. I heard nothing back. I chased them and they said they had nothing. i sent it again and never heard anything back from them.

Now, 2 years further on and without warning I have a letter headed "Notice Warning of Legal Proceedings"

As you can imagine I am pretty peeved to get this letter especially as i am waiting for the results of the appeal I launched, after writing a very detailed letter of everything that has gone on over the years.

Can anyone help me as to what i can do next with the seemingly robotic people I always end up speaking to. I am at my wits end because of this. Obviously I will call them and play merry hell with them yet again but shall i contact my MP over this? Can i ask for the transcripts of the conversations as i believe all calls are recorded for "quality and training" purposes. (What a load of crap that is. Working for a telecoms company (no, not that one! lol) i know the score with this quality and training malarkey. Calls are recorded to save litigation and prevent fraud cases.)

Sorry it's long-winded but felt it was best to explain everything to reduce any un-necessary questions and speed things up.

Thank you in advance

You receive award notices showing that you are the main carer for the child - did you not just call up and say "This is wrong!".
When you called up to ask if the payments were correct, as far as the advisers are aware they are correct as they would assume the information you gave was correct.

Have you confirmed that they received the dispute form for the overpayment?

All calls ARE recorded for quality and training. 6 Random calls per adviser are quality checked every 4 weeks.

And yes you can request a transcript of the calls via a Subject Access Request. This must be done in writing.

[Deleted User]

PUT QUESTIONS IN A NEW THREAD!!!

I cannot comment for anyone else on the boards but I wont be answering anymore questions in this thread and jamiebraund hasnt been on here in a good few days - and hasnt replied to this thread for more than just a few days!