Overpayment of Tax Credit time limitation

Murrayclar79

Is there a statute of time for overpayment of tax credit being reclaimed by DWP? I have seemingly been overpaid in 2014 although knew nothing about it until a DEA arrived today. Can I contest this?

poppy12345

Murrayclar79 said:

Is there a statute of time for overpayment of tax credit being reclaimed by DWP? I have seemingly been overpaid in 2014 although knew nothing about it until a DEA arrived today. Can I contest this?

No there isn't. We've had people here with tax credit debt going as far back as 2010. You are out time to dispute this now but you can request the SAR to see why they think you were overpaid that year.

Alice_Holt

Is is not statute barred.

https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/dealing-with-debt/

Icequeen1

Alice_Holt said:

Is is not statute barred.

https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/dealing-with-debt/

It is statute barred but not in respect of action by DWP. The statute only stops them from taking court action for old debts, it doesn't stop them recovering it by other means - for example, by recovery from DWP benefits or adjusting a tax code etc...

kaMelo

They're not statute barred. Tax credits debts, like any tax debts, never become statute barred.  There are a whole variety of ways in which they can recover money owed so taking legal action to do so is rare but they ultimately could and unlike any civil debt, they are not time limited in doing so.

calcotti

kaMelo said:

They're not statute barred. Tax credits debts, like any tax debts, never become statute barred.  There are a whole variety of ways in which they can recover money owed so taking legal action to do so is rare but they ultimately could and unlike any civil debt, they are not time limited in doing so.

Statute barred means, as I understand it, that they cannot take court action and the limitation does apply to DWP benefits and Tax Credit debts. All other forms of remedy available to them remain open.

I don’t know about tax debt.

Icequeen1

kaMelo said:

They're not statute barred. Tax credits debts, like any tax debts, never become statute barred.  There are a whole variety of ways in which they can recover money owed so taking legal action to do so is rare but they ultimately could and unlike any civil debt, they are not time limited in doing so.

That isn't correct. Tax debts are excluded from the Limitation Act 1980 (so cannot be statute barred) but tax credit debts are not excluded see https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/debt-management-and-banking/dmbm595080 which confirms. However, it is immaterial because, as Calcotti confirms, it just means they can't take court action after a certain period of time. It doesn't stop them using other methods. 

kaMelo

Thank you @Icequeen99 for the link, clearly I was wrong.

My understanding was as HMRC administered it, it fell under tax rather than benefit rules which is not the case at all and they do indeed become statute barred.

As all have said through, it is a technically as there are a variety of recovery methods that can be used.