Working Families Tax Credits

xnx23

Hello.
I seem to be going round in circles with HMRC and wondered if anyone could offer constructive advice?

We had a limited company in the UK, then moved to France 4 years ago. I wrote to HMRC to advise our plans, with relation to Working Families Tax Credits and Child Benefit. I also wrote to them the month after we emigrated, to say we had moved. We did not have jobs in France, nor were we claiming any benefits in France. They continued to pay us, which I assumed was because we still had the business in the UK, and we weren't claiming child benefit in France.

I wrote to them 5 months later, to say my husband had found a job, and I stated his hours of work and salary. While I was waiting for a reply, they continued to pay us. I thought this was because they only review annually.

I wrote again 5 months after that to say my husband's contract had finished. I also asked them to stop paying child benefit because we were going to claim that in France.

This is when I finally had a reply from them, stating they overpaid us by £12K and £2K in child benefit. Of course, I contested the overpayment as being their mistake, as I had written to inform them of changes of our circumstances. Then I got a letter back saying they had reviewed it but I still owe it.

Does anyone reading this know if I have the right to contest again, or will it just not be read?

karenx

So where is the money? If you knew you weren't entitled then surly you put the 14k aside then you can now pay it all back

xnx23

I was actually asking advice about my current situation, not to explain whether or not I have the money. Despite my current financial situation, they made a mistake by giving it to me. They knew my change of circumstances yet continued to pay me. As I said above, I thought they were paying me because we still had the business in the UK and we weren't claiming anything in France. So no, I didn't think for one minute they were paying me in error.

annie1975_2

This is the trouble with HMRC, dont think they know what they are doing half of the time...You here of people telling them time after time they think their being paid too much, and they insist its right. Then further down the line its "oh you owe us thousands".
And of course people are going to spend it thinking its right. I know i would.

Icequeen99

Did your award notices go to your new address in France?

I have successfully argued a case where someone moved to Germany and HMRC then asked for the money back because they said that the person had not reported the change. However, the new notices were going to the address in Germany, so of course HMRC knew they were in Germany.

I would suggest you keep disputing. You may also need to some specialist advice on whether the actual decision on the overpayment is right. The rules about which member state in the EEU as competency to pay family benefits is complex, it could be that HMRC have the decision wrong and you may need to appeal that rather than dispute. Far too complex to sort that out on this board though.

IQ