Tax credits overpayment - do they let you dispute?

Jtdoyouloveme

Have come home to the dreaded brown envelope today. I have submitted my final claim now I have migrated over to universal credit 

I don’t know if their wtc and ctc figures are correct as I never have been able to, however the childcare they say I have had is incorrect and the monies they say they have already paid is incorrect by more (have just checked through my bank statements) 

Will they let me dispute it? I have read that they don’t seem interested in if you think it’s wrong 

I also have my first payment amount being told to me 22nd October for my first universal credit payment and it says online it will be taken from that, but will they take it from the first one? I already don’t know how much I’m getting so could be even less now 😩

I will call them tomorrow but I won’t be able to sleep tonight now! 

peteuk

There is a dispute process yes, my advice would be to contact them and ask for a hold or low “token” payment until youve had time to look into this.  Take a look at the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-credits-appeals-complaints/dispute-tax-credits-overpayment

Jtdoyouloveme

peteuk said:

There is a dispute process yes, my advice would be to contact them and ask for a hold or low “token” payment until youve had time to look into this.  Take a look at the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-credits-appeals-complaints/dispute-tax-credits-overpayment

Thank you! I will ask them first thing. Can they then filter that through to Universal credit?

Alice_Holt

Some more info on disputing Tax Credit overpayments:

https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/challenging-overpayments/
And in particular:
https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/tax-credits/guidance/how-to-deal-with-hmrc/disputes/

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/help-if-on-a-low-income/working-and-child-tax-credits/tax-credits-appeals/if-hmrc-says-youve-had-a-tax-credits-overpayment/

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-credits-what-happens-if-youve-been-paid-too-much-cop26


Couple of key points -
i) HMRC have strict time limits for disputes - the three month time limit for disputing an overpayment runs from the date of the final award notice. So be sure that you meet that deadline.

ii) Keep records of all correspondence and phone calls (date, time, name of call-handler, etc)

Jtdoyouloveme

Thank you. I found my previous award and agree with their calculations, but the money the say they have paid me is different to my bank statements so at least I have that to send them. 

It was here when I got home from work so will call when they open tomorrow!