tax credit overpayments new report published

donnalove

i8payingbills wrote:

Hi people!

I dont mean to be rude, but if you knew you were being overpaid on your tax credit, why did you then spend the money you were being overpaid, and not telling the powers that be, NOT spend the amount that is overpaid, and give them the overpaid monies back when they ask for it?

you are missing the point.
we did tell them on the very first day that we recieved the overpayments and award notice 1 operater said it was right i said it was not.
i then phoned again that afternoon and spoke to a guy, he agreed with me they were wrong and put a urgent message on the screen that payments were wrong and for them to sort it out.
They had all the correct info about hubbys wage and mine but they are saying my hubbys was missing and we should have known but on all my award notices my hubby's wage is there in black and white.
they did mess mine up though instead of £4000 odd they put mine at £200,000 well if that aint there fault i don't know wot is.
i might before i hear back from mp go down local tax office as i have all paperwork and they are just inventing reasons to claw it back.

if you notify them that things are wrong and they fail to act you don't have to pay it back it says in there booklets.

CIS

The rules for re-claiming overpayments say;

From COP26 (my bold text)

If we find that, because we have made a mistake, we have not
paid you all the tax credit you are entitled to, we will pay you the
extra tax credit in a single sum straightaway.

We will not ask you to pay back an overpayment if it arose
because we made a mistake and you could reasonably have
thought your award was right. This would include cases where we
instructed your employer to pay you the wrong amount of
Working Tax Credit, provided you could reasonably think you
were being paid the right amount.

Some mistakes by us that lead to overpaid tax credit may happen
because you gave us some information and we did not act upon
it. If you tell us about a change, you can expect to get a revised
award notice from us within a few days. But if you tell us
something and we do not act upon it within 30 working days,
and you could reasonably think your tax credit award was correct,
we would not ask you to pay back the additional tax credit you
were paid.

It would have to be reasonable to think that your tax credit award
was correct. For example, if we were paying you tax credits on the
basis of the wrong number of children, that is the sort of thing we
would expect you to spot on your award notice and tell us about.
And we would also expect you to tell us if your employer was
paying you more tax credit than your award notice said you were
entitled to.

In deciding whether it was reasonable to think your award was
correct, we will consider all the circumstances of your case.
We will take the same approach where the mistake that led to the
overpayment was made by another Government Department.

i8payingbills

donnalove wrote:

if you notify them that things are wrong and they fail to act you don't have to pay it back it says in there booklets.

your a bit of a fool if you believe that. what it says, and what really happens are two different things, and at the end of the day, the overpaid monies arent yours. if you didnt spend it, and when they realised and asked for back, then there'd be no problem.

i8payingbills

I'm not trying to offend, and I'm aware that they do make stupid mistakes, but you dig your own grave when you spend the money that you know they're, rightly or wrongly, gonna ask for back.

pammy14

Can anyone advise us. My son has had an overpayment demand for over £5000.00. he filled in the appeal form but they are saying he should have been aware it was wrong. as he was stll on the same income same number of children etc and the amount being paid was the same as 2003/4 he certainly wasn't aware. The phone line told him last week they never received his form for 2004/5 with his details on although as he posted it he presumed they had got it. That is why they are saying he is overpaid. They have said now to write a letter again to preston but is there anything else he can do? Surely if his income was still the same the entitlement is still there.

CIS

Under the rules the entitlement is only there if they have a valid claim ongoing, HMRC not receiving the forms to finalise the previous year invalidates and ends the current years claim.

Eligibility to benefits does not give an automatic entitlement to receive them, if the claims process breaks dowm in any way, you wont fully meet the rules of eligibility.

I think the only thing he can do is ask then if their is a way to get the award re-instated, otherwise it will be an overpayment.
Has he tried to lodge a new claim for this year, on a new form ?. If he can get the award rstarted it will minimise any overpayment.

pammy14

But how did he know they had not received the forms and if they did not why do they carry on sending payments to you? Surrely if they have no form the claim has ended and the payments would cease. i find all this very difficult to understand. As my son says they keep advertising on TV to tell you to clain tax credis the when you do they want it all back. seems like a minefield to me.

I believe his partner who is now on her own has a new claim and her tcs have been sorted out.

gibson123

First I hate people who start a thread I don't want to be rude, it usually means they are going to be. I was overpaid tax credits and I was consistently told that it was money I was entitled to, even though I suspected it was wrong. Most people in receipt of tax credits are low paid or have high levels of commitment to children and childcare, many are struggling just to make ends meet. if you were in that situation and a government agency was paying money into your bank account monthly what would you do? You would assume that they had a greater knowledge of their own system than you and/or you would assume that the overpayment would be minimal. Many of us have had numerous re-asessments and each time had a different answer. I do not know anyone who told lies to be overpaid or tried to commit fraud, yet this is how we are treated, as if it was our fault. Unhelpful posters take note, WE DID NOT WANT OVERPAID, WE DID NOT ASK TO BE TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS, WE WERE TOLD WE WERE ENTITLED TO THIS MONEY, MANY OF US ARE STRUGGLING TO PAY BACK OVERPAYMENTS AND SOME OF US ARE MAKING VERY DIFFICULT CHOICES AND EXPERIENCING HARDSHIP TO ENSURE WE PAY BACK EVERY PENNY, SO GET REAL!!

pammy14

have to agree with gibson. When money is going into your bank account and its the same for over a year why should it be wrong. If you claim and they pay it to you surely you have the rihgt to presume its correct especially when you are low paid with children. This !!!! up with tax credits is causing people alot of stress through no fault of theiir own. also the statement in the letter 'you have no right to appeal' cant be correct. do we not live in a democratic society!

donnalove

i have now got my mp on the case
will keep you informed

donnalove
xxx