child tax credits(overpayments)

rosco_3

hello just got a letter today saying we owe the inland revenue £7000,for a overpayment made to us over two years ago.
when the inland revenue put the money in the bank we knew it was a mistake and rang them up,infact we rang them up nine times to tell them they were wrong,all they could say is( its yours and we cannot take it back because it could bring financial hardship) so what does everybody do yes we spent it and now they what it back.
in the letter it states (if you think that you do not have to pay us back because it was our error, you must give a reason in writing within 3 months) do you think we have a case,also if we have to pay it back can we pay say £10.00 pm untill the debt is cleared,. many thanks for reading

Lifeisbutadream

We have been overpaid on several occasions, and in fact they are overpaying us monthly now. I have told them so many times that I cant be bothered any more.

As far as I know, if they want to claw back the money, they will just stop your payments until the debt is cleared. I dont think that they will just demand it all back.

MissBehaving

Have you appealed and opened a dispute with Tax Credits?

We were overpaid by £11k and we have now started to pay it back.
We got transcripts of our telephone calls and whilst we know that we phoned them with the new income they still continued to over pay us.

We are now paying them back about £200 per month...

They work out your disposable income and then take half of it...

rosco_3

thanks for the replys,the only thing is the kids are now over sixteen and are in full time employment,but it is there mistake so fingers crossed they are in for a fight,all the best rosco

Hoddie_2

Then will normally only write the debt off if it was their error and you could reasonably have expected the award to be correct. In your original post you state that you knew it wasn't correct, if you've said as much to HMRC then you may have harmed your chances of appeal.

ajames4RL

Find out how the overpayment was created before you try and make a case to appeal. How is it their mistake? Being told your entitled to the money was probably correct for the details that were currently held at that time. I'm not trying to put you down here at all, but just so make a better arguement in having it over turned. You can get a written breakdown of the overpayment if you ask for one. Find out why it was their mistake, if you have dates of calls when you gave new information that wasn't updated then use that. Chances are, they will reject it, but you can always ask for them to reconsider it (although the letter says you have no case for appeal) and failing that, getting your local MP envolved helps alot!

Incidently, about paying it back was not correct. You should of been told you could of sent a cheque to TCO with your NI on the back. You could even gone into a local tax office and given it to them.

System

ajames4RL is correct you need to ask for a full explanation of how the overpayment occurred before you dispute it. Then at least you know what you are disputing. You also need to ask for a copy of your phone calls so you are clear on what was actually discussed.

When you have received both of these then you can complete a TC846 - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/tc846.pdf - to dispute the overpayment.

If they tell you their decision is that the overpayment is fully recoverable then you have no right of appeal BUT you do have the right to ask for a review providing you can give them further new evidence for your case.

BTW whilst TCO are processing the dispute (not the explanation or review) then recovery of the overpayment will be suspended.

A little advice for anyone querying an unexpected or large payment - make sure you ask the advisor what details/circumstances your award is based on at that time which has resulted in the payment.

ajames4RL

To get a copy of the phone calls, call them up and ask for the address to make a SAR request under the DPA. Also ask for any notes stored and they must also translate these into 'english'.