Urgent help with 6k tax credit demand

marliepanda

It sounds harsh, but with all your own things to deal with, it might be time to let him 'do what he wants' and see exactly where it gets him. Maybe then he'll look for help.

Is he under mental health care at all?

SnowWhiterThanWhite

marliepanda wrote: »

It sounds harsh, but with all your own things to deal with, it might be time to let him 'do what he wants' and see exactly where it gets him. Maybe then he'll look for help.

Is he under mental health care at all?

That's what my OH says but I still don't want to see him out on the street. He refuses any MH involvement

marliepanda

SnowWhiterThanWhite wrote: »

That's what my OH says but I still don't want to see him out on the street. He refuses any MH involvement

Well if he doesn't help himself that's exactly where he is heading. His home will be repossessed, he can go to jail for the council tax arrears.

Unless you have him move in with you, what else can you actually control?

Johnny.99

Who sent the demand for 6K? Was it a Notice to Pay letter from the Tax Credit Office? A Final Opportunity letter from Debt Management & Banking? Or from a private Debt Collection firm?

Voyager2002

Are you in contact with any of the debt charities (Step change for example)? They know how to deal with different kinds of creditors, and which debts can be written off when there is no income.

antonic

HMRC dont write debts off ,

However they may choose to "actively not pursue the debt", but if his circumstances change (eg sale of property) then they may decide to pursue the debt again.

Explain his current situation to HMRC and see what they have to say.

Also HMRC will refuse nominal offers to repay debts from debt charities such as Stepchange

Icequeen99

Ok, so some of the advice already given is correct.

There is joint and several liability and they both had a responsibility with regards to notifying that their claim ended.

The ex-partner cannot have claimed as a single person at the same time. She must be in the same position. The system would not allow a joint claim to run at the same time as a single. She will have missed out as well. She should have notified when he left and then she should have submitted a single claim.

Firstly, your brother should only pay 50% of it.

Secondly, a dispute in this case is likely to fail because even if he couldn't deal with things and report things, his ex-partner presumably could. However, if there is any reason the ex-partner could not have reported the breakdown of the relationship then you should put in a dispute on form TC846.

Assuming the debt stands, the next thing you need to do is approach HMRC using their mental health policy.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/DMBM555600.htm

Clearly, the situation with your Brother is well documented. If you have power of attorney they should deal with you.

This is the important part: If you receive information/evidence about the mental health problem of a claimant you can agree not to pursue that claimant for payment. This is to prevent any detrimental effect or unreasonable distress to the claimant

This page explains the effect of this on a joint debt when there is a relationship breakdown. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/dmbm555630.htm

Hopefully that will help and the debt will be written off.

IQ

Icequeen99

antonic wrote: »

HMRC dont write debts off ,

However they may choose to "actively not pursue the debt", but if his circumstances change (eg sale of property) then they may decide to pursue the debt again.

Explain his current situation to HMRC and see what they have to say.

Also HMRC will refuse nominal offers to repay debts from debt charities such as Stepchange

That isn't correct. I have had several tax credit debts written off in cases, some where we have agreed long term suspension and others where we have agreed £10 a month (which is normally the minimum). Mental health cases can allow the person to be relieved of the debt as I said above and they do not come back for the debt later.

IQ

konark

If his partner has been claiming CTC in joint names (instead of sole name) after the break up she may be able to apply for 'notional offsetting' to reduce the amount owed. If she would have been entitled to the same money whether she was with your brother or not there may be no overpayment.

HMRC can now take overpayments from a joint claim from a single claim, that claim will be his partners of course, and she will only be liable for half the overpayment.

The fact thet he claims no benefits that HMRC can attach a repayment order to is pertinent , if he has no income they will struggle to get their money back even if they take it to court. Ring up HMRC and explain the situation, they can postpone debt repayments or write it off altogether if there is no prospect of repayment.

If your brother owns equity in his property they may put a charge on the house, but this doesn't have to be paid until the house is sold.

Icequeen99

They can only use a charging order for tax credits if the result of a compliance intervention and even then I have never seen one applied.

IQ