Tax Credits O/Payment - admitted error!!!

katieowl_2

After months of unanswered letters I got onto my MP (Twice!) and finally I had a letter from the head of Tax Credits admitting they made a mistake, and that they owe me back the £1200 they took off us last year.

I wanted to pass on the information in the hope it might be of use to somebody in a similar position.

We could not work out why we had been hit for such a large repayment, when my partner had earnt only £136 over his 'allowed limit' Up until I got this letter I honestly believed it was one of those iniquitous sliding scales...

What actually happened was that when the new system was first set up, they were unable to sort out my bank details, and were sending me Giros. Two went missing in the post in the summer of 2003, I reported them missing/presumed stolen and they were re-issued by my local tax office. The Tax credits system read these payments as 'PAYMENTS IN ADVANCE' and therefore calculated that we had been overpaid. I did not have any way of finding this out, it was only a throwaway line at the end of the appeal rejection letter that flagged up to me that the sum we had reclaimed was anything to do with this occurence. They didn't answer my letters (four of them) asking for this to be clarified BTW until my MP became involved.

SO if you had any payments issued under similar circumstances and are now being asked to re-pay money I suggest you start asking the pertinant questions.

I still can't believe they actually made such a fundimental mistake. But to date have had half of the money owed to me refunded, plus a compensation sum (to include expenses) which amounted to the grand sum of £140. I await the second payment...... My bank manager will be extremly glad to see it.

Regards


Katieowl

stressedoutmum

:j I got a refund. After they stopped my child tax credit payment claiming I owed them over £700 last July I have Appealled (twice), written umpteen letters, loads of phone calls and finally got onto my mp. Have admitted they were wrong so will not pursue. Refunded my payments they had stopped - just over £400, gave me £20 toward phone calls and £50 for stress factor and were willing to pay more if I could provide evidence. Needless two say we had a very extravagant long weekend. Kids got everything they wanted, (new PS2 games, dvds) meals out, good wine and new shoes- its all gone but we had a heck of a time! I should have saved the money for better use but how often do we get to go on a spending bender! We all had a ball

katieowl_2

Glad you got it sorted out, what upsets me is that so many people don't have what it takes to even start the process let alone keep on it for months on end. Like I said I was just so outraged that my partners earning 136 Quid extra lost us over a thousand pounds, I wasn't going to let it go. Out of curiosity, did they answer any of your letters? I only really wrote to my MP to complain generally, I didn't really expect him to sort our case out, so I am really surprised that a) he did and b) that the Tax Credits had actually made a mistake.

Regards

cheghead

I sent off the TC846 form several months ago. My circumstances were I informed them I had taken a much lower paid job part way thru year. They back dated the claim to beginning of the year. This meant an overpayment which they have been claiming back over the last 2 years. I argued that it was their fault they paid too much as I had made it clear that the new lower salary was not from the beginning of April.
Received 2 letters from Tax Credit informing me they 'had made a mistake' on overpayments. Total comes to around £2500. Don't say what is gonna happen next. Any1 got any advice on how long I should wait to here from them? Or should I contact them straight away? All very well admitting they made a mistake but would prefer the money! Hope this gives others hope as well.

akh43

I won my claim last year, just over £300. Received my latest award and they have claimed it back again and dropped my payments when I only earned £34 extra over the whole year! Looks like another year of letter writing and appeals is on the cards. I'm glad I still kept all my previous correspondence from last year. Let the battle begin, again.

Can they do anything right?

:mad:

viktory

The tax credits office had told me that I was entitled to £40 per month, now they say I am entitled to nothing. Mind you, they also said I owed them about £600 in overpayments last year. I paid this, yet they are still saying I owe it! The mind boggles. I wish I had not bothered applying, as I am sure many others do.

princessmoneysaver

Would love to get in touch with my MP about our claim & that of a friend but no idea where to start. Any help?

Ta

Yvonne

katieowl_2

Sorry I only just saw this! I'm new to the board and having trouble finding my way back to stuff. go to this website and put in your postcode, it will tell you who your MP is and usually they have their own websites.

http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/

I'd probably get your friend to send her own letter (even if you both write it) two complaints have got to be better than one!

Regards

Katieowl (Still waiting for the second half of my refund by the way - time for another phone call!)