Huge tax credit overpayment

catswhiskers4

Hi, just got out award letter for 15/16 and they said we were no longer entitled to working tax credits and that we owe them £4000 odds for previous years.

My husband is on contribution based ESA in the support group and DLA. After many many phone calls, they advised me that they'd had him down as receiving income based ESA in error. We're still entitled to child tax credits (2 children), but they're taking what we owe our of that so we're receiving practically nothing. We were receiving over £700 a month and that is what we live on. They're taking back £400 a month. I've said to them you're leaving me with £50 a month after bills to feed a family of 4 so they've put me on hardship and will look to reduce my payment. I didn't actually get to speak to someone about what the reduction would be.

I'm really worried so does anyone know what sort of repayment plan they'll offer me? Could it be as little as £20 a month? Even then I'll struggle. Can I raise a dispute because it was wrong on their system and no-one has noticed since I first claimed in 2012. It's not clear whether the error was theirs or ours. I can't remember what I told them when I first claimed, but I'm always very careful to have information correct and overestimate my income a bit as I was scared of getting over paid

rogerblack

'In error' - whos error?

catswhiskers4

That's just it. I don't know. I'm really careful about these thing though. An advisor said to me yesterday that 'it was in the system wrong' (My husband's ESA) and 'we always had the income in the system, just weren't including it' about his £5700 ESA which is taxable. If you're in income related, none of it is taxable so if they could see it, surely they knew the system was wrong before?

rogerblack

Edited - in error.

I would question if that is not be a clear official error.
They had you living at the same address, on a dual claim, with an income of well over the threshold at which no ESA-IR would be paid.

Icequeen99

rogerblack wrote: »

I would question if that's not a clear official error.
They had you living at the same address, on a dual claim, with an income of well over the threshold at which no ESA-IR would be paid.

Unfortunately that argument won't get anywhere. This error happens a lot, normally with JSA. It isn't for HMRC to decide whether someone is or is not entitled to a DWP benefit and at what rate.

The award notice will clearly show 'income-related employment support allowance'. It will say the claimant has told them that they are getting it and to contact HMRC if that is incorrect. The emphasis is on the claimant to check the award notice.


IQ