Have asked tax credit to be stopped - but they won't stop paying me!!!!

Sooz007

Mr Lewis always says 'Tell them, tell them, tell them'..... well I did last Friday. Called Tax Credit office to tell them that my income for 11/12 was more than I had predicted (YAY!) and that I had been overpaid. I asked them to either reduce payments ASAP or stop them all together for a while as I don't want a nasty bill (I approximate about £750 overpayment has been made) some day in the next few months. They said that the renewal packs are going out at the end of May and that they couldn't do anything about my payments until after that!!! OMG I was incredulous. I was ACTUALLY trying to stop them giving me money and they won't.......so much for TELL THEM - they won't listen! I DID try.....:mad::mad::mad:

nannytone_2

no one is forcing you to spend it .
just put it to one side and then you'll have it to repay them.

Anubis_2

Yes, just what I was going to say, put it to one side. I know the temptation may be there to dib in it, but as you don't want to owe them through overpayment, the strength of your convictions will stop you.

Icequeen99

Sooz007 wrote: »

Mr Lewis always says 'Tell them, tell them, tell them'..... well I did last Friday. Called Tax Credit office to tell them that my income for 11/12 was more than I had predicted (YAY!) and that I had been overpaid. I asked them to either reduce payments ASAP or stop them all together for a while as I don't want a nasty bill (I approximate about £750 overpayment has been made) some day in the next few months. They said that the renewal packs are going out at the end of May and that they couldn't do anything about my payments until after that!!! OMG I was incredulous. I was ACTUALLY trying to stop them giving me money and they won't.......so much for TELL THEM - they won't listen! I DID try.....:mad::mad::mad:

If your 11/12 estimate and the actual amount were both higher than your 10/11 income you won't have been overpaid. (unless it has gone up by more than 10,000).

IQ

shedboy94

Sooz007 wrote: »

Mr Lewis always says 'Tell them, tell them, tell them'..... well I did last Friday. Called Tax Credit office to tell them that my income for 11/12 was more than I had predicted (YAY!) and that I had been overpaid. I asked them to either reduce payments ASAP or stop them all together for a while as I don't want a nasty bill (I approximate about £750 overpayment has been made) some day in the next few months. They said that the renewal packs are going out at the end of May and that they couldn't do anything about my payments until after that!!! OMG I was incredulous. I was ACTUALLY trying to stop them giving me money and they won't.......so much for TELL THEM - they won't listen! I DID try.....:mad::mad::mad:

Are you able to give 10-11, 11-12, and 12-13 est inc so we can have an idea of any potential o/p?

11-12 income cannot be taken after 06-04-12 until the annual renewal has been issued and received. You can provide an est of 12-13 income though.

Like other posters have said, if you feel you are not entitled to the money you are receiving then keep hold of it - o/p's are only remitted if it is an HMRC error and you weren't reasonably expected to know you were being o/p.

Voyager2002

Put the money into an interest-bearing account, so at least you get to keep the interest on it if and when you eventually return it. And remember that if you can demonstrate that you told them about your change in circumstances and they continued to overpay after a certain length of time, you keep the overpaid money (details elsewhere on this site).

shedboy94

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Put the money into an interest-bearing account, so at least you get to keep the interest on it if and when you eventually return it. And remember that if you can demonstrate that you told them about your change in circumstances and they continued to overpay after a certain length of time, you keep the overpaid money (details elsewhere on this site).

Wrong.

If the o/p was caused by an underestimate of income then it would not be classed as HMRC's fault.
As I said before, o/p's would only be remitted if it was HMRC's fault, and the claimant was not reasonably expected to know they were being o/p.
In this case the potential o/p would be caused by an under-estimate of income, and the op has already admitted they believe they are being o/p.

Can I also add, they would only be o/p for 11-12 if their inc was either more than £10k over 10-11 income (In which case their award notice tells them to re-estimate inc if expected to be over a certain figure), or they gave an est of 11-12 inc that was lower than 10-11 inc, but the inc ended up being higher than the est given.
If either of those scenarios apply then it is the op's fault.
If the op believes they are being o/p for 12-13 then this will be established after the renewal and it will only be an o/p if the new 12-13 award is less than what has been paid from April up until that point - even then it will only be a potential o/p until the year ends. If the new award is more than what has been paid, the the remaining payments will be reduced to prevent an o/p occuring.

Sooz007

Thanks for all your responses. I do have savings to cover the overpayment. It would just be nice to keep it!


The estimate for 11/12 was my 'actual' outturn figure for 10/11. My actual 11/12 figure is £2,400 more than the estimate.

My worry comes into play as I am hoping to move in with my boyfriend and his family in the next couple/few months. We have 2 x 14 year olds and 2 x 17 year olds between us, all in full time education. We will both not qualify for tax credits, so I'm pretty sure I will need to repay something.

I am trying to do a detailed budget for moving and am allowing for a sizeable contingency but would like to know what I'll have left in my savings.