tax credit overpayments new report published

Petal_3

I've just received my award today. Apparently I've been overpaid by a really small amount but as they don't want to cause hardship (we get £7 pm) they will continue to pay our award but warn us that the amount we owe them will increase! Come again?

frosty

WE have been overpaid £3600.00 and we will have to pay it back at £300.00 a month, how we are going to do this I donot know.We were claiming child tax credits for my youngest son,I phoned the helpline to say when my son was leaving school,he was not going to college so I didnot think we would be entitled to ctc,I was told if he signed up to career scotland we could claim ctc for another 22 weeks after leaving school so we did this,later in the year I informed them he had a weekend job (6 hours)
I was told this was fine as he was still registered with careers scotland this would not affect ctc.Then I got a phone call in January from the inland revenue saying we should not of been getting ctc for son,when they leave school and donot go to college they are not entitled to it,so they want it all back.Some of this money is also working tax credits I have appealed it but as yet have not had a reply,this is a complete shambles and like a lot of you I wish we had never claimed it.

aroma44

I have received good news......... 2003/2004 over payment was their fault, but they didn't look into 2004/2005 or 2005 to present so have filled in another dispute from as circumstances were the same. So it really is worth doing if you are in the right.

mjgoodhand

We were overpaid less than six months ago (about a month AFTER the government admitted to the !!!!-up). We appealed (as the overpayment was their fault) and have just had a letter back denying responsiblity. We therefore have no tax credits for 12 months while the overpayment is paid back.

What really annoys me is that immediately after the government admitted to the overpayments they said nobody would need to repay if it was the governments fault. They get the headlines for being the good guys then quietly after everything has calmed down they do a U-turn and overpayments have to be paid back. :mad:

aroma44

That's awful, if I was you I would try and dispute it again. This can only be done on a dispute form! All you ahve to fill in is your name NS number and your partner (if you have one and it's a joint claim) them one of three boxes with a short explaination as to what happened. One box is basically we told you and you said payment was right, one is we weren't sure and did nothing and the last is we knew it was incorrect or something along those lines. I was tol that they have a record of all phone calls and this is how the overpayments are looked at to see what was said. They managed to give me dates and figures that matched my records. Must be worth a try, like you said they are out to be the good guys at the moment. If all else fails what about you local MP?
Good luck

scrounger_2

We were horrified to receive our new tax credit award yesterday. Not only was it late (we had to phone up asking what had happened to it),but it said we OWED them some £2000!. Now my wife is in total panic,as i dont work now, and also dont get any jobseekers allowance :eek: .I will be on the phone today,if i can get through.My point being is there seems to be thousands in the same boat,will they ask for all of it to be returned at once or what? Reading their so called guidance notes isnt much help or reassurance.

Fran

Anyone who's got a dispute, it's worth contacting Citizens Advice as well as filling in the form. They are well used to dealing with these problems with tax credits by now, also it will be noted as part of their Social Policy work.

Citizens Advice website

Adviceguide - Citizens Advice

scrounger_2

Just had a quick thought,what is the formula they use to determine how much you get etc.?

molly22

Working Tax Credit lost my original renewal claim form, so requested it again. They needed my P60 information. As i had mislaid my P60 i requested a 'statement of earnings' from my emploeyer, then rang WTC to enquire where to send the info. The person on the phone asked for the final figure on my 'statement of earnings' form and i gave it to them.
i then received a new award notice. what a lovely surprise! i was overpaid thousands as the figure i quoted to them over the phone was only part of my income. amazing!
so what do i do now?

CharleneUK

I had an 'overpayment' for 2003/2004 over £2000 I wrote and appealed to no avail.

I was then overpaid again (although I never actually received the money as it was all going towards previous overpayment) and I'd decided enough was enough.

I filled in that form they provide about looking into their decision again, and out of nowhere, they accepted all responsibility and wrote the ENTIRE thing off! :eek: