Tax credits - Notice to Pay - urgent advice needed please

BD3

I have just had a total of six 'Notice to Pay' letters (between the two of us) and I'm really worried about the amount I have to pay back.

It's a total just under £12,000, between 2004 and 2006.

Not sure about what will happen 2006 and now.

The payments are due by 02-June-12 with the option of paying over 12 mths.

Can anyone please advise and what are my options?

Thanks in advance.

Icequeen99

Have a look at this guide:

http://www.litrg.org.uk/Resources/LITRG/Documents/2011/03/Dealing_with_Tax_Credit_overpaments.pdf

The repayment options are explained on Pages 16 and 17. Depending on your circumstances they will suspend collection, write off the money for financial hardship, allow you a time to pay arrangement up to 10 years.

If you don't think you should repay because HMRC made an error, you should read the rest of the guide which explains what to do.

IQ

char1402

Your best bet is to call them on 0845 302 1429 and offer them to pay it over a period of 10 years. ie £100 a month

Orville

Hey,

you had a good time spending it though right..?:cool:

Horsepower

How the heck do you owe all that?

Mumto3cheekymonkeys

I also owe a large amount BD3. The money I owe is due to childcare and trust me I intend to fight it all the way to court as I feel I should not have to pay this money back!

BD3

Thanks for your replies and support.

Icequeen99 - I'll take a look at the guide. Thank you.

Had some thoughts (worries) in the meantime:

• Should I get in touch with the TC people to discuss payments or should I first talk to CAB?

• So I know, how long does it take for an Appeal? and is any payments due put on hold?

• How successful are these Appeals?

• Is the payment an overpayment or an overpayment with some interest added?

• I guess I should ask TC to provide a statements how they came up with this figure.

• I'm not in a position to pay the full amount within 12 mths but if there's an option of doing it over 10 yrs then I might have to do this. Will TC add interest to the current £12k?

• If I want to pay it over say 15yrs, can they demand to check any (small) savings accounts we have and use that to pay off some of the money? or they only need to know income and outgoings?

• AFAIK, my credit record has been good (no problems). Will this demand for payment affect it?

Thanks.

Icequeen99

I have added some thoughts in red.

IQ

BD3 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies and support.

Icequeen99 - I'll take a look at the guide. Thank you.

Had some thoughts (worries) in the meantime:

• Should I get in touch with the TC people to discuss payments or should I first talk to CAB? Probably a good idea

• So I know, how long does it take for an Appeal? and is any payments due put on hold? You need to first find out whether you need to appeal or dispute. Chances are you are out of time for an appeal, but you can still dispute. An appeal is where you think the calculation is actually wrong. A dispute is where the overpayment is right, but you think you shouldn't have to pay ot back because it was caused by HMRC error. The guide i linked to explains it all. There are not many proper appeals in tax credits, most people are disputes.

• How successful are these Appeals?

• Is the payment an overpayment or an overpayment with some interest added? Interest can be added in certain circumstances, but never seen it happen.

• I guess I should ask TC to provide a statements how they came up with this figure. You can ask for an explanation, but note what that guide says about explanations. You might be better just disputing which will stop the recovery action.

• I'm not in a position to pay the full amount within 12 mths but if there's an option of doing it over 10 yrs then I might have to do this. Will TC add interest to the current £12k?

• If I want to pay it over say 15yrs, can they demand to check any (small) savings accounts we have and use that to pay off some of the money? or they only need to know income and outgoings? It would be rare for them to accept repayment over 15 years. They will want full income/expenditure/disclosure of savings. Less than 10 years, they will ask less questions but will still want an offer based on actual affordability. I.e. if you have £300 a month disposable income they won't accept a £50 offer.

• AFAIK, my credit record has been good (no problems). Will this demand for payment affect it? Not unless you ignore it.

Thanks.

Mumto3cheekymonkeys

I owe little over £9000 but I am disputing it as I don't think I should have to pay the childcare back when I couldn't help having to go off sick. With 2 little boys at the time they were always picking up bugs and I also got poorly. I had to take time off work for caring for them but still had to pay my childcare bill. The TC system is very flawed and there is a website called Tax credits casualties there are some good threads on there to read.

Buzzard_legs

Oh dear, I've just received letters too. They asking for £6,000 approx between two of us. Really worrying . Will look at advice pages above. What a mess!!

Mumto3cheekymonkeys

I have been fortunate that my old employers have stood up in my defence and my £9000 "overpayment" is probably going to be thrown out