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Backdating completed claim
sgjhoward
Posts: 65 Forumite
Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me with this, please.
My husband worked abroad from the 23rd of May until the 17th of August. I told tax credits after he had left and was told it would remain a joint claim and I should tell them when he returned to England. Apparently after 8 weeks (without me realising) the joint claim ended and I should have made a single claim. They sent us a letter (dated 24th July) but they sent it to my husband's address abroad and he only got it on the 12th of August (and didn't read it, unfortunately because he was preparing to return home).
So, I have now phoned tax credits and they are sending me a form to start a joint claim again from the 17th of August, which is great.
I asked also for a form to make a single claim from the 20th of July in the hope of getting up to 31 days of backdated payments. I have been told I can't do that. They don't know why I can't do it, except it seems to be to do with the claim having ended. I was wondering:
(a) Is this correct - you can't backdate a completed claim?
(b) If it's wrong is there something I can quote to them to get them to do it.
It seems really unfair that I am going to lose a huge amount of money when I noticed my mistake only 28 days after the change of circumstance (working abroad for over 8 weeks) and only 24 days after they wrote to us. Don't you normally get more time to inform them? The earliest we could have noticed our mistake was 12th of August which is a week ago when my husband got the letter. I guess this last paragraph is irrelevant to my question, but I just wanted to moan at someone!!
My husband worked abroad from the 23rd of May until the 17th of August. I told tax credits after he had left and was told it would remain a joint claim and I should tell them when he returned to England. Apparently after 8 weeks (without me realising) the joint claim ended and I should have made a single claim. They sent us a letter (dated 24th July) but they sent it to my husband's address abroad and he only got it on the 12th of August (and didn't read it, unfortunately because he was preparing to return home).
So, I have now phoned tax credits and they are sending me a form to start a joint claim again from the 17th of August, which is great.
I asked also for a form to make a single claim from the 20th of July in the hope of getting up to 31 days of backdated payments. I have been told I can't do that. They don't know why I can't do it, except it seems to be to do with the claim having ended. I was wondering:
(a) Is this correct - you can't backdate a completed claim?
(b) If it's wrong is there something I can quote to them to get them to do it.
It seems really unfair that I am going to lose a huge amount of money when I noticed my mistake only 28 days after the change of circumstance (working abroad for over 8 weeks) and only 24 days after they wrote to us. Don't you normally get more time to inform them? The earliest we could have noticed our mistake was 12th of August which is a week ago when my husband got the letter. I guess this last paragraph is irrelevant to my question, but I just wanted to moan at someone!!
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Comments
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New claim now and backdate to 20th July as a single claimant, then end claim on 16th Aug.
New claim from 17th Aug as a couple now, sorted?0 -
Unfortunately they won't let me make a new claim as a single claimant as I am now in a couple. They will let me make the new couple claim.0
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He was in Germany.
Your reply does seem to echo what the people on the Tax Credits helpline said - so those are the rules I guess. It seems weird that you can't backdate a claim just because your circumstances change - ho hum.
Is that it then? No way to get the money back even though I only made the mistake less than a month ago??0
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