20 yr old Working Tax Credit debt

Sashakins

Good evening people in my phone, really need some advice.
I have received out of the blue a letter from HMRC saying I owe £7717 for overpaid Tax credits from 2003 2004.
No explanation just a list of values next to the years.
I was not claiming in those years but have no idea how to prove the fact.
Can't get bank statements previous to 2015 and have no paperwork from HMRC.
I believe there has been a huge error, and I'm worried sick.
Really not sure how to tackle it and prove I don't owe them.
All advice online says, if they say you owe you must pay no matter how old the debt is and they don't have to tell you where the figures come from.
How can this be right?
How can I dispute if I've no way of proving otherwise.
I've not got that sort of money and obviously don't want to pay a debt I don't believe is correct. 
Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

huckster

Submit a Data Protection request for your information to HMRC.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmrc-subject-access-request

In regard to any overpayment of tax credits, you should also write back stating that you do not believe any overpayment applies and ask them to provide proof.

With debts so old, HMRC are limited in how they could collect the debt.  Quite often HMRC are not able to provide any proof of the debt, so they stop chasing any debt. So write to them, if they provide proof, get debt advice from Citizens Advice or other advice service.

Sashakins

Good morning Huckster, thankyou so much, advice much appreciated, I will certainly do that.

sammyjammy

Is it definitely from HMRC as DWP deal with historic tax credit debt on their behalf?

Sashakins

Hi sammyjammy yes definitely HMRC.