Over payment of Working Tax Credit

LEK

Good morning all,

Well I had a rather inconvenient phone call to start off the day from a firm called LCS working on behalf of HMRC regarding over payment of my working tax credit from last year (tax year 2014 - 2015), and the amount their claiming is £715. What I'm absolutely stunned about most of all is how this has been calculated as at the time I was supposedly entitled and awarded over £900 for that tax year based on all of the personal information I gave to them, and apparently I never filled out my renewal form before 31st July of last year to see if I was entitled to any more and as a result, has made them think that I have been overpaid - despite the fact that I did fill this out via post and never heard back from them (doesn't surprise me one bit).

Not only that, but this has taken well over a year for this to be brought to my attention - however, since that tax claim ended I did move address and also despite me notifying them of my change of address at the time, they apparently sent various letters of correspondence to my old address hence which is why the alleged debt was forwarded onto LCS due to them hearing nothing back from me.

I explained all of this to LCS this morning on the original phone call and when I outright refused to set up a payment plan with them due to this being the very point of communication I have heard regarding the matter - they suggested for me to ring HMRC for an explanation as to how this has happened. I then spoke with HMRC who explained the following above and said there was nothing I can do but to go back to LCS to solve the matter, HMRC however are sending a letter out to me explaining how the over payment has occurred with a breakdown.

I'm just looking to see where I stand regarding this, as at present I am not in any position to be able to re-pay the debt back if it is owed due to my own personal financial commitments, and if I am forced to have to pay it - will they be willing to liaise with my DMP company, StepChance to arrange a re-payment plan?

Many thanks,

Liam.

Darksparkle

Well something so far doesn't make sense.

If the overpayment was because you didn't complete (they didn't receive) the renewal last July that would cause an overpayment for last year, 2015/16.

If the overpayment was for 2014/15 (two years ago) then it would be for another reason.

What awards notices do you have for the tax year in question?

StepChange have info about tax credits overpayments on their website so I'd imagine you could discuss it with them.
https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/tax-credit-overpayments.aspx

LEK

Darksparkle wrote: »

Well something so far doesn't make sense.

If the overpayment was because you didn't complete (they didn't receive) the renewal last July that would cause an overpayment for last year, 2015/16.

What awards notices do you have for the tax year in question?

This is exactly what they are alleging, because they claim I never sent off my renewal notice to them last year - even though I did.

With regards to the award notices, I have not received any from them - probably due to them posting it to my old address.

Liam.

NYM

How did you end your claim to Tax Credits?

Darksparkle

LEK wrote: »

This is exactly what they are alleging, because they claim I never sent off my renewal notice to them last year - even though I did.

With regards to the award notices, I have not received any from them - probably due to them posting it to my old address.

Liam.

You said in your OP that the overpayment is for 2014/15 which was 2 years ago.

You also said that you moved after your claim ended so you should still have had awards notices when you were claiming.

Why did the claim end?

LEK

NYM wrote: »

How did you end your claim to Tax Credits?

I filled out the renewal form last year and sent it off to them, at the same time I did a calculation check online to see what I would be entitled to after my end date (last April). However they told me online that I would no longer be entitled to it due to how much I paid in tax at the time, and then never heard back from them despite posting the renewal off to them - so with them never coming back to me either way, I thought at the time that it backed up with me no longer being entitled to WTC.

Liam.

LEK

Darksparkle wrote: »

You said in your OP that the overpayment is for 2014/15 which was 2 years ago.

You also said that you moved after your claim ended so you should still have had awards notices when you were claiming.

Why did the claim end?

Sorry just to clarify, the WTC I had at the time was for the tax year 2014/15, they are stating that I was overpaid because they never received my 2015/16 renewal form.

I most likely did receive the relevant correspondence from them, but this would of been after I moved out of my old address.

Liam.

NYM

So they had your correct address to send the renewal forms to?

Darksparkle

It sounds like the overpayment is actually from 2015/16 tax year and not 2014/15.

Did you get payments between April 2015 and July/August 2015?

When did you move address?

When did you inform them that you moved address?

Did you not query why it stopped and why you stopped receiving any paperwork? If they received the renewal they would still have wrote to you, even if stopped being entitled.

The general process is that if you don't renew by 31st July any monies paid since April of that year is considered an overpayment.

When your claim is terminated, you are sent a statement of account informing you of this. From there you have 30 days to restore the claim.

However you mention doing an online calculation that showed you were no longer entitled due to your income so it could well be that even if you had renewed, your income had increased and the overpayment was still valid.

If you can prove that you did send in the renewal, and that the failed to update your new address and send the paperwork there then you could possibly dispute the overpayment but it will depend on the specific dates and circumstances.

LEK

NYM wrote: »

So they had your correct address to send the renewal forms to?

They said that they have no record of being alerted of any change of address, and only have my old address on file.

Liam.

LEK

Darksparkle wrote: »

It sounds like the overpayment is actually from 2015/16 tax year and not 2014/15.

Did you get payments between April 2015 and July/August 2015?

When did you move address?

When did you inform them that you moved address?

Did you not query why it stopped and why you stopped receiving any paperwork? If they received the renewal they would still have wrote to you, even if stopped being entitled.

The general process is that if you don't renew by 31st July any monies paid since April of that year is considered an overpayment.

When your claim is terminated, you are sent a statement of account informing you of this. From there you have 30 days to restore the claim.

However you mention doing an online calculation that showed you were no longer entitled due to your income so it could well be that even if you had renewed, your income had increased and the overpayment was still valid.

If you can prove that you did send in the renewal, and that the failed to update your new address and send the paperwork there then you could possibly dispute the overpayment but it will depend on the specific dates and circumstances.

I had no payments made to me at all post April 2015.

I moved from my old address in April 2015, I informed them regarding my change of address roughly around two weeks before moving out - as well as sending off my renewal claim form to me.

I may of received correspondence from them regarding any of the above, but as probably expected it may of been sent to my old address - by which point I would have moved out.

Liam.