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Child tax credit overpayment - HMRC's fault?

scrimpersavermum
Posts: 5 Forumite
I'm hoping someone can help on whether I should have to repay a child tax credit overpayment.
In 2011-12 we qualified for £1687 child tax credit (we have 2 kids and total income was £32336).
I just received our tax credit award statement for 2012-13 and due to the reduction in the income limit we no longer qualify for any child tax credit. (Obviously we're pretty gutted about this but know there is nothing we can do.)
What I'm really not happy about is that they continued paying our child tax credit from this April and so they have overpaid us £696, and are now asking for this back! I understand that HMRC sent a TC1015 letter to everyone who they thought would receive a nil award from April 2012 saying that their claim would not be renewed for 2012-13 unless they contacted them. We did not receive a letter, and our circumstances have not changed so they should have known we would also receive a nil award.
As this was HMRC's fault for continuing to pay us, should we still have to repay the £696? Money is tight and we certainly don't have £700 lying around.:(
(Income 2010-11 was £30361, and estimated income 2011-12 was £33571 when we filled in the tax credit forms in July 2011).
In 2011-12 we qualified for £1687 child tax credit (we have 2 kids and total income was £32336).
I just received our tax credit award statement for 2012-13 and due to the reduction in the income limit we no longer qualify for any child tax credit. (Obviously we're pretty gutted about this but know there is nothing we can do.)
What I'm really not happy about is that they continued paying our child tax credit from this April and so they have overpaid us £696, and are now asking for this back! I understand that HMRC sent a TC1015 letter to everyone who they thought would receive a nil award from April 2012 saying that their claim would not be renewed for 2012-13 unless they contacted them. We did not receive a letter, and our circumstances have not changed so they should have known we would also receive a nil award.
As this was HMRC's fault for continuing to pay us, should we still have to repay the £696? Money is tight and we certainly don't have £700 lying around.:(
(Income 2010-11 was £30361, and estimated income 2011-12 was £33571 when we filled in the tax credit forms in July 2011).
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Comments
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Do you have any childcare or disabilites? Otherwise the figure for last year is too high, should only have been £545 (that's based on 2010/11 income due to the disregard).
When you say "estimated income when you filled the form in" the form doesn't ask for estimated income in the current tax year, did you phone them with an estimate?0 -
No we didn't have any childcare costs or disabilities allowance. The calculations on the tax credits award for 2011-12 are:
1 qualifying child for 122 days - £852.78
2 qualifying children for 244 days (daughter born Aug 2011) - £3411.12
Basic - £545.34
Total of above = £4809.24
Reduction due to income = -£3122.32
Amount for period = £1686.92
You're right, I actually phoned them to complete the annual review with an estimate.0 -
You can ring them & ask if you can pay it monthly for a few months by DD.
x0 -
Do you have any childcare or disabilites? Otherwise the figure for last year is too high, should only have been £545 (that's based on 2010/11 income due to the disregard).
The £545 is just the 'family element' of child tax credit. There is also a max £2555 'child element' per child. So for a 2 child family the max child tax credit you could get would be £545 + £2555 + £2555 = £5655.
See Martin's tax credit guide (as a newbie I'm not allowed to post links).0 -
That makes no sense, what income is it based on?? That looks like income was about £14k, not £30k !! Check the income quoted on that award.0
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scrimpersavermum wrote: »No we didn't have any childcare costs or disabilities allowance. The calculations on the tax credits award for 2011-12 are:
1 qualifying child for 122 days - £852.78
2 qualifying children for 244 days (daughter born Aug 2011) - £3411.12
Basic - £545.34
Total of above = £4809.24
Reduction due to income = -£3122.32
Amount for period = £1686.92
You're right, I actually phoned them to complete the annual review with an estimate.
As Zagfles says, there is something wrong with that 11/12 calculation. Can you post the figures for the WTC part as well (specifically the reduction due to income figure)?
In HMRC's defence, surely it isn't their fault though because in April 2012 the only income figure they knew was £30361 (from 10/11), they did not know until you renewed that your income was over £32,000. So how could they send you a letter?
IQ0 -
scrimpersavermum wrote: »The £545 is just the 'family element' of child tax credit. There is also a max £2555 'child element' per child. So for a 2 child family the max child tax credit you could get would be £545 + £2555 + £2555 = £5655.
See Martin's tax credit guide (as a newbie I'm not allowed to post links).0 -
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Icequeen99 wrote: »As Zagfles says, there is something wrong with that 11/12 calculation. Can you post the figures for the WTC part as well (specifically the reduction due to income figure)?
In HMRC's defence, surely it isn't their fault though because in April 2012 the only income figure they knew was £30361 (from 10/11), they did not know until you renewed that your income was over £32,000. So how could they send you a letter?
IQ
Working tax credit elements
Basic - £1921.50
Second adult - £1950.78
30-hour element - £790.56
Total = £4662.84
Reduction due to your income = £4662.84
Amount for the period = £0
As the income limit was to reduce from around £40k to £32,200 for families with 2 kids, they should have known our child tax credit would drop dramatically, if not actually to zero.0 -
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