tax credits again!!

nicky7175

just had a letter from tax credits saying owe £1790.69 back immdiately. I am now a single parent and this overpayment was from a joint claim last year with m y ex partner I am liable to have to pay all of this back on my own as I live at this address. I simply cannot afford it and rely on my new tax credits to get by as i dont work

lebly

You need to contact your tax credit office and explain the situation and see if you can agree terms to pay it back a little at a time. They do have a repayment strategy.

Hope it helps

System

You and your ex are jointly liable to pay this back so they will be asking you both to pay it back providing they have both your addresses.

They will accept it if you both pay back half and you can make an arrangement to pay it back a little at a time.

GemA_2

Agreeing with the above, and expanding a little if I may...

You and your ex partner are "jointly and severally liable", which means that either of you can be asked to pay back the whole amount, but in practice it's probably easiest if you can agree between yourselves who takes responsibility.

Or (if you're not on speaking terms) you can make an informal arrangement with HMRC to pay back 50% of the debt, but you will need to be aware that the whole amount is still legally due.

(Bascially, this means that if your ex goes AWOL, you could end up stuck with it. BUT you shouldn't be asked to pay high amounts that could put you into financial hardship. Just explain your situation fully and honestly.)

jellycat40

Hi there, I owed them over £1k and they take it off my monthly award. It makes little difference about £50 per month.

However you should then ask your ex to give you his half of this!

Louise

GemA_2

That's probably the easiest way to pay back an overpayment, but if the overpayment was on a joint claim and you now receive Tax Credits as a single claimant, they can't do it.

But if your Tax Credits (single claim) go into your bank account, and you agree on a repayment amount (joint claim), which also comes out of your bank account, then it's the same effect really.