Home responsibilities claim problem

drakhan

My wife's Home responsibilities claim was rejected
It was from 1989/90 to 2009/04 as her daughter was born July 1988 but she had already claimed Child benefit but it was complicated by her moving to Greece in September 1991 with her daughter and 1st husband who passed away in 2003.
When she applied for Home Responsibilities a 5 months ago we didnt realise that this was the case
HMRC have since sent a letter a week ago asking for more information as they are saying because they went to Greece in 1991 they werent entitled to claim Child Benefit.
The tone of the letter seems to be that they are going to demand it back from 1991 which means 34 years ago. I thought there was a limit for HMRC of 20 years to clawback child benefit payments.
How do i approach this.

drakhan

Sorry it was to 2003/04

marcia_

drakhan said:

My wife's Home responsibilities claim was rejected
It was from 1989/90 to 2009/04 as her daughter was born July 1988 but she had already claimed Child benefit but it was complicated by her moving to Greece in September 1991 with her daughter and 1st husband who passed away in 2003.
When she applied for Home Responsibilities a 5 months ago we didnt realise that this was the case
HMRC have since sent a letter a week ago asking for more information as they are saying because they went to Greece in 1991 they werent entitled to claim Child Benefit.
The tone of the letter seems to be that they are going to demand it back from 1991 which means 34 years ago. I thought there was a limit for HMRC of 20 years to clawback child benefit payments.
How do i approach this.

 I didn't think there was a time limit on government debt. In that they can't take you to court but can just collect direct, change tax code or deduct from your earnings. 

huckster

marcia_ said:

drakhan said:

My wife's Home responsibilities claim was rejected
It was from 1989/90 to 2009/04 as her daughter was born July 1988 but she had already claimed Child benefit but it was complicated by her moving to Greece in September 1991 with her daughter and 1st husband who passed away in 2003.
When she applied for Home Responsibilities a 5 months ago we didnt realise that this was the case
HMRC have since sent a letter a week ago asking for more information as they are saying because they went to Greece in 1991 they werent entitled to claim Child Benefit.
The tone of the letter seems to be that they are going to demand it back from 1991 which means 34 years ago. I thought there was a limit for HMRC of 20 years to clawback child benefit payments.
How do i approach this.

 I didn't think there was a time limit on government debt. In that they can't take you to court but can just collect direct, change tax code or deduct from your earnings. 

That is correct, no time limit on Government debt.

Of course if they think there is a case to take to criminal court I.e. fraud, then that would be an option. But that appears unlikely based on limited information in this thread.  If such a process is started, then a Solicitor that deals with such cases should be contacted.

Suzycoll

drakhan said:

My wife's Home responsibilities claim was rejected
It was from 1989/90 to 2009/04 as her daughter was born July 1988 but she had already claimed Child benefit but it was complicated by her moving to Greece in September 1991 with her daughter and 1st husband who passed away in 2003.
When she applied for Home Responsibilities a 5 months ago we didnt realise that this was the case
HMRC have since sent a letter a week ago asking for more information as they are saying because they went to Greece in 1991 they werent entitled to claim Child Benefit.
The tone of the letter seems to be that they are going to demand it back from 1991 which means 34 years ago. I thought there was a limit for HMRC of 20 years to clawback child benefit payments.
How do i approach this.

 
I would reply to the letter honestly.

Just tell the truth i.e your wife didn't realise she couldn't claim CB in Greece.

I'm not sure how HMRC judge this & also not sure why your wife thought she could claim CB ?

Yes, HMRC can claim it back after all this time. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

There was a recent news story about CB and people living abroad.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5r1zpl39jo

drakhan

Thanks everyone. Reason I asked about time limit is I read some articles stating that there was a 20 year time limit.
Oh well.
Just need to contact them and hope it’s not too much to pay back

8dayweek

Did she check her NI record before claiming HRP? 

If she had already claimed Child Benefit for that period, then surely that would be reflected on her NI record?

If she’s got gaps, then are HMRC saying she had Child Benefit but not NI credits associated with it? (Leaving aside the potential Overpayment for now). 

sheramber

8dayweek said:

Did she check her NI record before claiming HRP? 

If she had already claimed Child Benefit for that period, then surely that would be reflected on her NI record?

If she’s got gaps, then are HMRC saying she had Child Benefit but not NI credits associated with it? (Leaving aside the potential Overpayment for now). 

HRP did not give NI credits.

It reduced the number of years needed to be eligible for the full pension.

A full year of HRP knocked one year off the number needed. 

Part years did not count. 

8dayweek

sheramber said:
 

HRP did not give NI credits.

It reduced the number of years needed to be eligible for the full pension.

A full year of HRP knocked one year off the number needed. 

Part years did not count. 

Thank you - my bad. I thought HRP was literally to plug a gap in your NI record (so I couldn’t fathom why there’d be a gap if ChB was in payment IYSWIM). 

Yamor

sheramber said:

8dayweek said:

Did she check her NI record before claiming HRP? 

If she had already claimed Child Benefit for that period, then surely that would be reflected on her NI record?

If she’s got gaps, then are HMRC saying she had Child Benefit but not NI credits associated with it? (Leaving aside the potential Overpayment for now). 

HRP did not give NI credits.

It reduced the number of years needed to be eligible for the full pension.

A full year of HRP knocked one year off the number needed. 

Part years did not count. 

I assume the OPs wife turned pension age after 5th April 2010, in which case any full year of HRP is converted into NI credits.