HMRC - January 2022 TC610 letter & debt collection follow up.

ObscureReference123

Morning all,

Long time skulker, first time poster here.  I apologise if I'm in the wrong part of the forum, this looked most appropriate.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had the same experience as me?

In January, I received a TC610 from HRMC  the "Notice to Pay"  for over payment of tax credits.  I'm not 100% convinced about the accuracy of the amount owed - but haven't been sufficiently meticulous in my record keeping to argue it.

I called HRMC on the 25th January, the day I received the letter, and their voice message advised that "if you have received a TC610, you don't need to speak to us - we will write to you soon to confirm what to do next.".  I called again on the 8th February and the same message was on the system.  

Quite honestly - after that point - I forgot to call again to follow up.  But having been told by their voice message that they would write to me, I had been waiting for their follow up.

On Friday the13th (!) May, I did get a follow up - but not the one I'd been expecting from HMRC.  Instead, I received a letter from Advantis - Debt Collection Centre advising that my "debt" to HMRC had been passed across to them.  I called them immediately, at the same time raising a complaint with HRMC about the fact that I had been waiting for them.

All credit to Advantis, the lady I spoke to was fantastic - and has placed the account on hold pending the outcome of my complaint to HMRC (I was able to provide them with my reference number from HMRC). 

However - I can't be the only person out there that has had a TC610, called up and had this message only to now be hit with a debt collection letter? This is the first time in my life I've been contacted by a debt collection agency.  I have no concern to paying back money I owe - but this feels like the HMRC have dropped the ball, and in the process killed my credit rating.

I would also have expect this to be dealt with automatically as a tax code change, surely? The allowance was provided as an adjusted tax code, so surely the solution would just have been to adjust my tax code to reclaim the tax?

I have raised a complaint in writing - via the website - with HMRC (in theory they have said working 24 hours to reply).  We'll see.   Anything else I should be doing? Is anyone else in this situation?

poppy12345

ObscureReference123 said:

his feels like the HMRC have dropped the ball, and in the process killed my credit rating.

It won't have anything to do with your credit history.

ObscureReference123 said:

I would also have expect this to be dealt with automatically as a tax code change, surely? The allowance was provided as an adjusted tax code, so surely the solution would just have been to adjust my tax code to reclaim the tax?

Tax credits is a welfare benefit and has nothing to do with your tax code. A tax code is for paying tax on your earnings.

ObscureReference123

poppy12345 said:

ObscureReference123 said:

his feels like the HMRC have dropped the ball, and in the process killed my credit rating.

It won't have anything to do with your credit history.

Sending a debt to a debt collection agency impacts your credit rating.


It was the married persons allowance that they stopped - which I thought impacted my tax allowance.

Icequeen1

ObscureReference123 said:

poppy12345 said:

ObscureReference123 said:

his feels like the HMRC have dropped the ball, and in the process killed my credit rating.

It won't have anything to do with your credit history.

Sending a debt to a debt collection agency impacts your credit rating.


It was the married persons allowance that they stopped - which I thought impacted my tax allowance.

HMRC routinely use debt collection agencies for tax credit debts and tax debts. They do not impact your credit rating. They sometimes use them as the first stage of recovery so them passing it over to a debt collection agency isn't anything to worry about. 

Marriage allowance is not related at all to tax credits - a TC610 relates to tax credits - working tax credit or child tax credit. 

IQ

sheramber

Tax credits have nothing to do with the transfer of marriage allowance for your income tax.

JonVarnas

ObscureReference123 said:

poppy12345 said:

ObscureReference123 said:

his feels like the HMRC have dropped the ball, and in the process killed my credit rating.

It won't have anything to do with your credit history.

Sending a debt to a debt collection agency impacts your credit rating.

No it won't. HMRC don't sell the debt, they just use a debt collector to get repayment. I owed HMRC for tax credits and they used Scotcall to collect it. After a few attempts they gave up and handed it back to HMRC. Never showed up on my credit file.