tax credit overpayments new report published

kparky1

Hi
we had to pay back £4000 in overpayments. (calculated between 2003 - 2005)
On the forms we accidentally had not put a figure in the box for my husbands salary (we meant to put in in when we had worked out what his salary was but overlooked the blank box when we sent the form back). We did supply his employers name and address, his national insurance number and that he worked 37 hours a week on the same form. Did the Inland Revenue think he worked for free? Why did the Inland Revenue not query this with us?
The first time we were aware of the error on the application form was when I saw a copy of our application form, following the numerous requests I made to the Inland Revenue to see it. It arrived after we made an appeal against the overpayments letter we had received demanding the money back.
We genuinely believed that we were entitled to the benefits, I had been on Incapacilty Benefit after a year of being off work sick and had returned to work part time in that period. Do you think that the Inland Revenue acted illegally in demanding the overpayments? Are we entitled to our money back?

Bumble_Bee_7

Can I just say, that everyone keeps saying I did inform them of changes on time etc etc, even if it was days after the change occurred, you can be overpaid, depending on how much you recieved to date (as you may have already been paid your full entitlement based on the change). Also people tend not to give the correct estimated income, or let the helpline work it out for them, Work out your own income! & over estimate it.

tigtag02

Bumble_Bee wrote: »

Can I just say, that everyone keeps saying I did inform them of changes on time etc etc, even if it was days after the change occurred, you can be overpaid, depending on how much you recieved to date (as you may have already been paid your full entitlement based on the change). Also people tend not to give the correct estimated income, or let the helpline work it out for them, Work out your own income! & over estimate it.

I'm guessing you work for the beloved tax credits :rolleyes:

You see ~ the point is, its NOT our job to do the calculations ~ its the job of the WTC/CTC's ~ its our job to provide the basic information!!

I had three change last year and informed of EVERY one as SOON as they happened - I was still told I was overpaid :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

There is a serious flaw in the system which I dont even think they have the abilty to iron out ~ in short, a shambles!!

Strepsy

We had an overpayment years ago, were advised to stop receiving payment until it was paid back. Simple? Yes. We assumed when we started receiving again that it had all been paid back but now they're saying that we shouldn't have been receiving no payments because it wasn't paying the debt back, and they still want £1500 by 27th October.

savvy

Know what you mean Strepsy, they don't seem to know their @r$e from their elbow!! I had a demand for a substantial amount, I contested it and they sorted out one part of the problem.

They then came back with that I'd been overpaid by £420 (how THAT can be is anyone's guess when I did exactly as they asked!!!!!) :rolleyes: anyway I had to agree to pay it back by DD over 12 months.

Well I've been waiting for a DD mandate from them for months and months, but then I got a notification that I had been over paid by £94 and that I MUST pay this back and that is the final amount! :rolleyes:

Suffice to say, I've sent a cheque off rapidly, so they hopefully can't come back to me with another fictitious figure!! I still don't see how I could be overpaid when they were taking money off me for a year for an overpayment when they forgot to pay me for my other son But I'd rather pay £90 odd, than £400 odd or the thousands they originally said I owed!!

I hate the fact that they make you out to be a criminal when THEY make the mistake!!! :mad:

creamtea_2

http://www.taxcreditoverpayment.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

see how many have had problems due to the errors by TC software - NOT the fault of claimants - its a well known software error. Keeps defaulting to zero whenever anyone calls the call centre!

clioclassic

Well I bet you can not belive this one - In 2003/4 me and my husband were overpaid by just over £8,000... The day i saw the money in the accounts I contacted the tax credits and they said that it was there fault.... They said that they would take the money off us over the coming months by reducing the monthly payments.... Shortly ofter that my husband and I split up and when i contacted the TC's they said that the bill would need to be settled by both parties, as I was going throu a rough time i never got round to sorting out any payment to them. I was told thou that I had to open a new claim as a single parent. 6 months later my husband and I got back together, so again I informed the TC's and closed the single claim and opened the joint claim again - The TC's said that the outstanding amount would be need to be paid back to us and we had to go throu our income and out-goings to them. It was then agreed that we needed to pay back £40 a month to them til 2025......... I did disbute the overpayment as they has said it was a fault on there behalf but the dispute was denied......

Then our circumstances changed and I contacted the CT's to inform them only to be told that again we had been overpaid and that we owed them a further £1,200.... I argued with them saying that I did not want them to pay me no more and the lady was good with me, she looked into the files and said that the reason we had been overpaid the large amount was infact because THEY had not taken my husbands income into account evan thou they DID have the information of it.........."what can I say".

I disputed AGAIN... and it was denied AGIAN.... so I am still paying £40 a month to come off the big payment and a further £17 a month to pay off the other £1,200. The smaller overpayment will be paid off soon but the other one will take us until 2025 to pay it off... the youngest child will be 24 then....

How bizare is this case then.... Anyone got any suggestions... I do feel they did have the correct information yet still messed up big time

Sean9015

clioclassic wrote: »

Well I bet you can not belive this one - In 2003/4 me and my husband were overpaid by just over £8,000... The day i saw the money in the accounts I contacted the tax credits and they said that it was there fault.... They said that they would take the money off us over the coming months by reducing the monthly payments....

Exactly the same situation. Have been paying back (by not recieivng anything!) for two years, then they messed up and started paying again when our circumstances changed. Basically, every time circumstances change, they mess up - and then blame the "customer".

The added twist is that I have now emigrated, and they are demanding full repayment. They even paid two months after I notified them I had left the country! I have compained, and told them I will not deal with them by phone as I cannot get the same answer twice, and my notes of conversations do not tie in with what they put on screen. The last irony (after a court threat) was to tell me to ring an 0845 number - which I can't off an overseas mobile!

I despair - and I have told them my payment terms will be by cheque, in my local currency - I am not paying bank charges for their incompetance!

fergie19cameron

Seven wrote: »

Does anyone know if interest is going to be charged on overpayments?

I have offered to pay back £50 a month for the next year to get my £300 bill paid off, but maybe I could be offering to pay less if there's not interest going to be added on? Not sure if I just want to pay it back and get it over with or not.

yes they will charge you interest every one in a while.

June34

Hi ive been glancing through the last 18 pages of replies and i am in dread, my son was at college and has now taken on an apprentiship, though still at college 2 weeks out the month. my problem is that i forgot to send them how much i had earned this year and had about 5 enveloped waiting for me returning from work one day to all say OVERPAYMENT......... they were all for ridicoulous amounts and into the thousands, they had stopped payments because i had been overpayed all ready and now im dreading telling them as i know they will be asking for thousands back which i dont have, im up to the hilt in paying my normal bills and debts...