Overpayment of tax credit

CocoPop06

Hi

My boyfriend has received a letter today from HMRC saying that he owes them £7821 for an overpayment of tax credits from a 2 month period in 2005! The letter asked him to call to make payment or it will be passed to a debt collection agency

He has not received anything previous to this letter and has been at the same address for the last 4 years, the tax office have contacted him at this address re his tax code etc but nothing about this.

He then called the number on the letter who told him it was the wrong dept so they put him through to someone else in the collection office. They told him they had last written to him in 2006 but had had no response, he explained he didn't know anything about it and had not any letters otherwise he would have contacted them as he has today.

He explained to them that he was not willing to pay As he didn't know anything about the overpayment and doesn't know how they have arrived at the figure he apparently owes them (£7821 over 2 months!!) and he believes the debt is now statute barred as it's owed from 2005 and according to the tax credits collection office they have not chased payment or sent any correspondence since 2006 anyway!

Obviously my boyfriend is now worried as he understands they will continue to chase but from what we have looked at on the internet it's statute barred so should be nothing further they can do??

Any help or advice on this would be great! Thanks in advance

nannytone_2

statute barred doesnt applu in the same way when its a debt to the state.
they may not be able to take him to court, but they could change his tax code and recover it directly from his wages.
you need to ask them for a breakdown of how this debt occured.
does your b/f still have HMRC correspondance for the period in question?
if not, then he can request copies of all correspondance they sent.

Icequeen99

It sounds like it might be statute barred, but that would only stop them taking court action as NT says.

They can use their other methods of recovery including taking from his pay or using distraint (bailiffs to seize goods).

Whether or not he agrees, the first step is to make a payment arrangement to start paying back a small amount each month. That will stop any further action being taken.

Then he can start looking into the cause of the overpayment by sending in a TC846 dispute form saying he disagrees with recovery and that should get a response as to why he was overpaid.

Ignoring it will simply mean they will look for other ways to recover it.

IQ

antonic

Icequeen99 wrote: »

It sounds like it might be statute barred, but that would only stop them taking court action as NT says.

They can use their other methods of recovery including taking from his pay or using distraint (bailiffs to seize goods).

Whether or not he agrees, the first step is to make a payment arrangement to start paying back a small amount each month. That will stop any further action being taken.

Then he can start looking into the cause of the overpayment by sending in a TC846 dispute form saying he disagrees with recovery and that should get a response as to why he was overpaid.

Ignoring it will simply mean they will look for other ways to recover it.

IQ

As usual IQ you are right, but I do need to correct you on a small point.

If the debt is England then distraint has been replaced by Taking Control of Goods - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1894/contents/made

Distraint still applies in Scotland & N Ireland.

Icequeen99

antonic wrote: »

As usual IQ you are right, but I do need to correct you on a small point.

If the debt is England then distraint has been replaced by Taking Control of Goods - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1894/contents/made

Distraint still applies in Scotland & N Ireland.

Distraint is easier to type :rotfl:

But yes you're quite right I should have noted that.

IQ

antonic

Icequeen99 wrote: »

Distraint is easier to type :rotfl:

But yes you're quite right I should have noted that.

IQ

Your right it is easier to type!