HMRC Debt passed to Akinika Debt Recovery

B.J.W_2

Hi, any advice much appreciated. I'll keep things as succinct as possible. Earlier this year (approx March) my wife received a letter from HMRC saying that she owed them outstanding tax credits of £380. No reference was made as to when this amount was applicable, nor why..... My wife phoned the tax office and asked for them to send her information as to why this amount was owed. She had no problems paying if it's owed, but is reluctant to hand over £380 just because the Tax office says so (I had a £16k tax bill from HMRC a few years ago which I queried and they ended up owing me money). HMRC said that her account was placed on hold. She contacted them again in the Spring - no progress was made. We then received a letter from a business called akinika a couple of months ago. The latter said that HMRC had passed the 'debt' onto them and that they had strict instructions to recover the full amount. Since then my wife has sent two further letters to HMRC asking them to explain why this amount is owed; at the same time copying in akinika to keep them in the loop. We have had no response from either, and today have received another 'more strongly' worded letter from Akinika. As you can appreciate, my wife is both frustrated and concerned. She has wrote a number of letters to HMRC, who appear to be not in the slightest bit interested, whilst akinika obviously want their pound of flesh. What can my wife do? She has a genuine query relating to how HMRC have arrived at the £380, but no way to confirm either way, and now has a debt collection agency on her back. Thoughts?

sourcrates

Have you followed HMRC`s complaints procedure ?


I would just give the adjudicators office a ring and explain your situation to them :


http://www.adjudicatorsoffice.gov.uk/


Write to the DCA and tell them to butt out as this matter is in dispute with HMRC.

B.J.W_2

The simple answer is 'no'


We will get on to it first thing in the morning....

dancingfairy

local mp might help?
df

antonic

Adjudicators Office wont be interested until you have fully exhausted HMRC`s Complaints Process.

Of course there is nothing to stop you complaining to your MP.

edi

Go to your local MP. We were in the same boat few years ago with HMRC demanding ~£2k in overpaid tax credits but never gave us any sensible explanations on how they arrived at this figure. After repeated failed attempts to extract any useful information, we took the case to our MP who wrote to them on our behalf including our calculations showing no overpayment. HMRC have dedicated officers addressing queries from MPs, one of whom looked at our case and sorted out in no time.