We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Urgent - Overpayments help

Emjay85
Emjay85 Posts: 19 Forumite
edited 20 June 2019 at 12:57PM in Benefits & tax credits
Hi can anybody give me some advice about tax credits overpayment,
Over the period between April 18-19 I stupidly forgot to inform the DWP about a change in my circumstances meaning my partner was now living with me (to give you a picture, I was on 60mg of fluoxetine plus propranolol and diazepam at the time and going through a mental breakdown). As a result there has been a large overpayment, however the overpayment they are telling me I owe is the entire amount of benefit I received.

Factors to take into account
household income was £1500 ppm
and our childcare costs were £500ppm

Am I right to think that I still would’ve been entitled to some benefits over that period.

They have said I do not need to do anything and they will begin taking this from my universal credit. How do I challenge this and negotiate repayment so that we do not go into financial hardship.

Comments

  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    What benefits are they recovering?
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • Emjay85
    Emjay85 Posts: 19 Forumite
    Its tax credits. Ill add it into the original post now.
  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 20 June 2019 at 1:13PM
    When you became a couple this ended your single person tax credits claim. To continue with tax credits you would have needed to make a new couples claim.

    I think for tax credits you are entitled to ask HMRC to reassess you as if you had notified and made a new claim for tax credits as a couple. From memory this is called notional offsetting. Any entitlement you might have had will reduce the amount of overpayment.

    See here https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/dealing-with-debt/#Notional%20entitlement
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,876 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    how many hours per week were your partner and you each working?
  • Emjay85
    Emjay85 Posts: 19 Forumite
    My partner was full time, I was self employed 2 days a week.
  • Emjay85
    Emjay85 Posts: 19 Forumite
    UPDATE - I've been advised that notional offsetting wont apply as I am now in a full UC area.
    Thanks for the guidance.
  • calcotti
    calcotti Posts: 15,696 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Emjay85 wrote: »
    UPDATE - I've been advised that notional offsetting wont apply as I am now in a full UC area.
    Thanks for the guidance.

    That does make sense - I should have thought of that.
    Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 245.3K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 601.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.5K Life & Family
  • 259.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.