Tax credits say the overpayment is £5000!

Deals_2

according to a letter they've sent me they would have overpaid me by this amount. they said that i did not reply to the September form (06) and that i therefore have to pay back the money. I wrote to them at the beginning of 2006 to say that i was not using registered childcare at that stage so i imagined when they wrote in september i thought this might be because they did not get my letter with regard to childcare and so maybe this overpayment was due to this effect .

but then tonight i reread the letter which said i did not fill in the form by end of september but the fact of the matter is i wrote to them to say that i would be abroad (was going to see if wanted to live abroad but then changed my mind after approx 3 months abroad from september to december 06 approx - and did not have chance to apply for any financial help abroad ) so that is why did not reclaim on the form sent for september. i dont think tax credits is really that clear.

they seem to be claiming about £3000 for the childcare element and £2000 approx for working tax credits.

any idea of this september thing would be really useful as not sure what am supposed to do.

Valley's_girl

Hi deals someone will be along shortly to advise you good luck!!
Ally xx

hotblu

Hello,

By the sounds of things you have been overpaid becasue you did not complete your annual renewal for 05/06 which would have been issued around April-July 2006. The deadline for the return of this form was September 2006. If you did not complete the renewal your claim was terminated and any provisional payments made from 06/04/06 would have resulted in overpayment. You say you wrote to them to advise them you would be abroad between September to Decemebr 2006, that doesn't explain why you never completed the renewal as it was issued at the start of the tax year. In my experience it is unlikely TCO will remitt the overpayment as the renewal should have been completed. Also, when your claim is terminated due to non-completion of renewal TCO write to you to advise you of this and even then you have upto 30 days to reinstate the claim. Unlikely you would win a dispute as you had around 4 months to complete the renewal (sorry).
Also, you mentioned you wrote to them to advise them of the change in childcare cost's, I presume this wasn't actioned, so if the overpayment is with regards to that, then TCO will more than likely say you were aware that you were recieving incorrect monies and will ask for it to be repaid.
Sorry I dont have any good news but I hope this helps.

Regards,
Hotblu

Ps, You haven't mentioned if you have re-applied for tax credits, if you haven't I advise you apply asap as you are losing money which at the very least could help you repay overpayment.

Pps, Good luck!

System

The TCO would have sent the annual renewal pack/form to you shortly after 6 April 2006 when you were still in the UK. It was then up to you to return it by the cut off date of 31 August 2006. There would also have been an ad campaign on TV reminding claimants of their responsibility to get their renewal done before the cut off.

It sounds as though they are saying you didn't return your annual renewal form and so they terminated your claim and are asking for you to pay back
the £5000 they paid you from 6 April 2006 until 31 August 2006. These payments were provisional payments and entirely conditional on you completing an annual renewal declaration form.

If you are still not 100% of the reason for the overpayment write to them asking for an explanation and if needs be after they reply you can dispute the overpayment.

HTH

krisskross

Were you still receiving tax credits while you were abroad?