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Tax Credits Over Payment LCS/PastDue

Hi,

Looking for some help/advice with a tax credits over payment.

Due to the way the systems works when your self-employed, I (/ well my partner) have been over paid in by Tax credits over several years (??!!) and with her recently starting a job we have just managed to reach the threshold and are no longer eligible for tax credits (obviously been self employed my earnings are reported around a year after the tax year when my tax return in done and submitted). Due to now not receiving any tax credits we have had the dreaded letters demanding a huge repayment.

Thus far I have tried writing to HMRC (several times) and offered to setup a monthly repayment, but have yet to receive any sort of response from them. Initially we did query it as it seemed very strange that the system would drop self-employed people in to such a hole, but due to the complexity and my complete non-understanding of how the system works did not contest it.

They have passed on the first over-payment (~4k) to LCS initially and now that one is with Pastdue. There is also a second subsequent over-payment (~1k) that is currently with LCS.

As HMRC don't seem to have been bothered to respond to my offer I have been largely ignoring this thus far, due to just not having the time to look in to and deal with. I don't really want to be dealing with a 3rd party and don't have much faith in paying any monies via them (I would rather it goes direct to HMRC so I have an accurate record of what has and hasn't been paid... etc).

So first off I am looking for some advice on how to proceed at this point?

- Are Passdue/LCS reputable enough to make an agreement with and will they stick to it, Will monies paid reach HMRC correctly etc?

- If I continue to ignore Passdue/LCS will the matter get passed back to HMRC, if so will they finally respond to my offer? If not what course of action will they likely take?

- If I deal with Passdue what do I do about the second over payment LCS are chasing? Ignore until it gets passed on or deal with both and split the available funds between the two? or ??

- Are Passdue/LCS likely to accept an offer or will they try and push for as much as they can? I don't really want to be put in to financial difficulty ... Which unfortunately been self-employed there are periods of little income and needing to budget for debts, business costs etc over the year from any perceived savings as well as currently seeing business declining a little on the past couple of years and may well end up back with in the tax credits boundary once the next return is done, but that's a while away..

Thanks for any advice, feeling somewhat lost in all this presently!

m

Comments

  • NYM
    NYM Posts: 4,066 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    I can't answer your issue specifically, but would imagine that Passdue/LCS would not be in any position to negotiate any 'offers'. They've been directly engaged by HMRC to collect the debt(s)

    Perhaps it would be best if you contacted them to arrange a payment schedule that you can manage.
  • Darksparkle
    Darksparkle Posts: 5,465 Forumite
    They will want repayment of the entire debt. This is no different to want HMRC would want. You can however discuss a manageable repayment plan.

    This page is good for explaining - http://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/dealing-with-debt/
  • maddiction
    maddiction Posts: 42 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 24 May 2017 am31 11:00AM
    You miss-understanding me. I'm not looking to negotiate the amount (I get that HMRC will want the lot they think they are owed), just the payment terms i.e. setting up an affordable payment plan, which is what I meant by 'offer'.

    m
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