Tax Credits Overpayments from years ago

calcotti · 15 July 2021 at 12:31PM

Digger25 said:..I wonder if there is some sort of ombudsman that I could appeal to given the long time that they have left it to chase me?

Unfortunately the fact there has been a delay is not grounds for challenging it. There are many people being chased in exactly the same way.

poppy12345 · 15 July 2021 at 12:38PM

Digger25 said:

As I said before I did write to the dispute dept of Tax Credits saying I believed some of the debt should be statute barred given the length of time that has elapsed

As previously advised, although this debt is statue barred, this doesn't mean they can't chase you to repay it, which they have done by requesting the DEA.
They are catching up with a lot of people that owe money dating back as long as 20 years.

pmlindyloo · 15 July 2021 at 1:20PM

When looking at the print out of the overpayments were you being asked to pay 50% and your ex husband paying the other 50%?
This is what should have happened.
I know you believe that this is too long a period for them to chase you but it is not uncommon.
As has been explained HMRC can use the DWP to collect the money through your salary. Court proceedings are not needed.

If it were me then I would follow Calcotti’s suggestion and do a Subject Access Request (follow the link she gave) to find out where they sent letters and whether you are being asked to repay back all of it instead of half.
Icequeen1 sets out the ‘bottom line’ about whether they sent letters or not. If you received the final notice at the end of the tax year then they have completed their legal obligation.
A Subject Access Request will give you all the information as regards letters.
I can understand your anguish but as has been explained before the fact that they have left it so long is not relevant. Very annoying but not relevant.
The onus is on the claimants to check their entitlement through their final notice at the end of the tax year and contact tax credits accordingly.

Icequeen1 · 15 July 2021 at 3:14PM

Digger25 said:

Regarding my Ex he left me in huge debt years ago and has had no contact with his sons over the years or myself. As I see things, I have not heard from Tax Credits or DWP until December 2020 that is the first I knew off the overpayments via the DEA being sent to my boss. I know I have not had any correspondence in years, as it is not in my nature to put my head in the sand on financial matters as I know they will only get worse! After talking to CAB , they said that 2004 was a grey area regarding Tax Credits and many people were overpaid during this time. The total amount they are reclaiming is from 2004-2016 totalling £5,300. I wonder if there is some sort of ombudsman that I could appeal to given the long time that they have left it to chase me? As I said before I did write to the dispute dept of Tax Credits saying I believed some of the debt should be statute barred given the length of time that has elapsed but just got a short letter back saying they have passed my debt on to DWP and that was that which I feel is so wrong..

Unfortunately i think you are focusing on the wrong thing. By all means complain to HMRC about the fact they have taken so long to chase you but as we have set out above - arguing it is statute barred is not going to get anywhere. It is statute barred - but that just means they won't take you to court and obtain a county court judgement. They CAN pursue statute barred debts by taking from ongoing benefits or using passing to DWP and using a DEA. So they are acting within their legal powers.

The only route open to you is to complain that they have not contacted you, but as others have said I suspect they will say that they notified you of the debt at the time.

Complaining via the complaints route will not change the fact the money is owed though.