Tax credit repayment passed to LCS

tmeah7

I’m self employed and as a result of my income for 2018-2019 I was told by the tax credit office I was no longer entitled to any tax credits. I now have to make a repayment of about £4000.

I submitted an online mandatory reconsideration within 30 days of the original notice. The mandatory review was declined in early December.

I was hoping to appeal this within the 30 days but HMRC have not waited and passed it on to debt collectors. I’ve now been sent a letter by LCS demanding repayment.

I contacted tax credits office to arrange a repayment plan but they told me that I have to deal with LCS and they won’t recall it back to them.

I’m not happy dealing with LCS and would have preferred to arrange a repayment plan over a period of time directly with HMRC.

Has anyone dealt with LCS? I have no idea how flexible LCS would be regarding spreading the repayment over a period of time and what the rules are. Any advice would be appreciated.

Icequeen99

tmeah7 wrote: »

I’m self employed and as a result of my income for 2018-2019 I was told by the tax credit office I was no longer entitled to any tax credits. I now have to make a repayment of about £4000.

I submitted an online mandatory reconsideration within 30 days of the original notice. The mandatory review was declined in early December.

I was hoping to appeal this within the 30 days but HMRC have not waited and passed it on to debt collectors. I’ve now been sent a letter by LCS demanding repayment.

I contacted tax credits office to arrange a repayment plan but they told me that I have to deal with LCS and they won’t recall it back to them.

I’m not happy dealing with LCS and would have preferred to arrange a repayment plan over a period of time directly with HMRC.

Has anyone dealt with LCS? I have no idea how flexible LCS would be regarding spreading the repayment over a period of time and what the rules are. Any advice would be appreciated.

If you file an appeal, then they should freeze the recovery of the debt. Usually it is suspended for the mandatory reconsideration and then once they make a decision, it is released. But when the appeal is made, it should be suspended again.

LCS just act on behalf of HMRC and have exactly the same powers to agree time to pay and follow the same guidance as HMRC.

IQ

teresa.barnes3

I have been paying LCS £20 per month since 1/6/16, three years and 8 months and totalling £880. I am sure the repayment amount I was asked to pay HMRC was not as much as this. Is it safe to contact LCS and find out if I should be paying anymore, I wonder? Lots of unsavoury things written about LCS on the internet. So I am also asking for some advice.

calcotti

teresa.barnes3 wrote: »

I have been paying LCS £20 per month since 1/6/16, three years and 8 months and totalling £880. I am sure the repayment amount I was asked to pay HMRC was not as much as this. Is it safe to contact LCS and find out if I should be paying anymore, I wonder? Lots of unsavoury things written about LCS on the internet. So I am also asking for some advice.

You should have paperwork from when you made the payment arrangement confirming how much was owed and how long the payments would last.