Child Benefit overpayment

Walterr

Hi all,
In 2008 my first wife and I claimed child benefit under my name as claimant as at the time my wife was not a British citizen. We arranged for the benefit to be paid directly into her personal bank account.
The years went by and I totally lost focus on the child benefit as I never saw the money in my account and had no communication with the Child Benefit office. My wife gained British citizenship in 2012 and at this point we should have transferred the Child Benefit account into her name so she became the claimant and not me. With the financial crisis, both working full time, child care and a deteriorating marriage the child benefit account amendments never happened.
The marriage broke down in 2014 and my wife and son moved out of the family home into independent premises. A year later we divorced and I moved abroad to live and work. I returned to UK earlier in 2020 with my second wife and our son. I applied for his child benefit only to be informed that I could not claim benefit for him until we had been resident in UK for 3 months which is fair enough. However, I was also informed that I owed the HMRC £5000 as I had been claiming child benefit for my first son while living abroad.
 I wrote a detailed explanation with timelines to the Child Benefit office explaining that the benefit had been received by my first wife since 2008. They stopped the monthly benefits to my first wife and she was totally confused as to why as she thought the benefit was in her name. She has now re-applied for benefit under her name and has started receiving.
I have received a reconsideration letter from the Child Benefit office rejecting my explanations. I then got my MP involved and they sent a letter which was also rejected. I have now sent an appeal off to an independent tribunal in order to overturn the £5000 overpayment demand. It just seems very punitive if you look at the larger picture. I would not object to repaying the money if I had received it. But I am being penalised for not informing the HMRC of a change in circumstances. I feel like a criminal for an innocent oversight. Has anyone had a similar experience or advice?

Deenport

Unfortunately HMRC are notoriously difficult to work with and will do everything in their power to dig their heels in and will not accept genuine reasons as an excuse to waive charges, fines, repayments etc... the only helpful advice that I can give is that you can ask them to adjust your tax code going forward and repay the money that way. Although I understand that this could potentially leave you in financial difficulties going forward 
 

The other option is to ask if ex would submit a claim for previous years benefits? Although she received the money in the past, HMRC records will show that the claim wasn’t in her name and if they are claiming it back from you then technically no benefits have been paid. 

Your ex can claim a full payment for previous years, up to 3 I think, then give you the money. Hope this is of some help