Benefit worry - Advice needed

bitconfused83

Hi, a bit of internet searching brought me here so I'm hoping someone can lend me some advice.
I'd been with my partner for several years, she has two girls under 15 from a previous relationship. Last February we decided to take the plunge and move in together, I gave up my apartment and moved into my partners house, this is where it gets tricky. My partner works part time and was claiming working & child tax. When I moved in she said she'd give it a month to make sure everything was ok and then she would cancel her claim. We got the move out of the way, I changed addresses on my bank, car insurance, credit cards, work ect and everything settled nicely. Unfortunately the relationship hasn't worked out and in April we decided to call it a day. To cut a long story short, after failing a property application I found she'd never put me on the electoral register, something she told me last year she had done. When i asked why she admitted she never cancelled her working & child tax claim and has been receiving payments all the time I've been there, that was why she didn't put me down as living there. To say I'm not happy is a mild understatement, I've been paying the most of the bills whilst I've been there so go knows what she has been doing with her money! Whilst I don't mean to sound selfish here, how has she got away with this? and what is my exposure?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Daryl

AyJay18

keep calm and carry on.

follow that advice. can never go wrong.

Darksparkle

This sounds all very familiar but anyway. . .

Why did she need to put you on the electoral register? Surely you could have done it yourself.

There are millions of tax credit claimants. It would be impossible to check every single claim is genuine. Just because she has got away with it so far doesn't mean she will in future, they could do a compliance check and she'd then be overpaid, potential penalties or worse.

You weren't the one claiming fraudulently therefore it has no impact on you.

Alice_Holt

OP have a read of this thread -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5864092/incorrect-claim-help-needed

Be warned - it has a sting in the tale.

bitconfused83

She said she'd sort the electoral form as she need to cancel the single person discount she got on her council tax, it never even crossed my mind to check. I've never had any issues with credit so I've never even checked my credit rating until the application didn't go through. I worked out she'd had in the region of £4500 she should not have got, we never had a joint account so god knows what she did with the money. Just trying to see if I am on the hook for anything, I can't honestly understand how the hell it never flagged up, she even renewed it last year telling them she was single and living alone, and this was only a few weeks after they had sent me my tax rebate paperwork to the same address!??!

bitconfused83

Alice_Holt wrote: »

OP have a read of this thread -

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be warned - it has a sting in the tale.

I saw this one when I was searching for some info, problem is it's a bit misleading

Biggles567

Darksparkle wrote: »

This sounds all very familiar but anyway. . .

Why did she need to put you on the electoral register? Surely you could have done it yourself.

There are millions of tax credit claimants. It would be impossible to check every single claim is genuine. Just because she has got away with it so far doesn't mean she will in future, they could do a compliance check and she'd then be overpaid, potential penalties or worse.

You weren't the one claiming fraudulently therefore it has no impact on you.

Doesnt the OP pay tax ???

Darksparkle

bitconfused83 wrote: »

She said she'd sort the electoral form as she need to cancel the single person discount she got on her council tax, it never even crossed my mind to check. I've never had any issues with credit so I've never even checked my credit rating until the application didn't go through. I worked out she'd had in the region of £4500 she should not have got, we never had a joint account so god knows what she did with the money. Just trying to see if I am on the hook for anything, I can't honestly understand how the hell it never flagged up, she even renewed it last year telling them she was single and living alone, and this was only a few weeks after they had sent me my tax rebate paperwork to the same address!??!

Tax rebates aren't issued by tax credits.

People can live together without being in a couple.

As I said, it's impossible to check every claim. The blame is on her for claiming fraudulently, not HMRC for not being able to check she's genuine.

Darksparkle

Biggles567 wrote: »

Doesnt the OP pay tax ???

Which has nothing to do with claiming tax credits.

bitconfused83

Biggles567 wrote: »

Doesnt the OP pay tax ???

Confused, what do you mean?

bitconfused83

Darksparkle wrote: »

Tax rebates aren't issued by tax credits.

People can live together without being in a couple.

As I said, it's impossible to check every claim. The blame is on her for claiming fraudulently, not HMRC for not being able to check she's genuine.

Thanks for clarifying that, I'd assumed it was HMRC that did both.