tax credit overpayments new report published

little_dumplings

Thank you so much 180 and savvy.....and all the other posters on this forum who let me know I'm not alone! It beggars belief that they can take back all the money that was paid to me legitimately, even money that went to my daughter's childcare provider so I could go out to work! Thinking about it, they never even told me that I even owed 06/07 money (£7K) until my call to them last Sunday, otherwise I would have made triple sure my form was in on time this year! I'm now trying to contact the CAB for some help with my forms, and now on Prozac to cope with it all lol. Thanks again for taking the time to read my post and hopefully when I come out the other end of this I'll be in a position to help others

Karen xx

p.s. Don't forget to put your forms in on time !!!:eek:

savvy

Hi dumplings glad we can make a bit of difference, it's absolutely amazing what they are doing to people and how they are getting away with so much incompetence by turning it around on to the claimants. I phoned once to say they left one of my children off my claim, THAT was my fault :rolleyes: she backdated it 3 months and said that would be all I could get taken off this alleged 'overpayment'. But I spoke to chap for another reason and we got talking about my son being left off..............and blow me down he backdated the entire lot!! I asked how he could do that when the other woman couldn't...........his reply was that he was GOOD! I mean of course I was grateful, but the inconsistency beggars belief

And now they say I only made one call on a significant day when I know I made 2, and that second call was when I was given very bad advice at the outset...........which they say couldn't possibly have happened, I now have to prove that they have that call despite me requesting ALL the data they have on me!! Unbelievable!!

Anyway, enough ranting, get yourself on the Tax Credit Casualty website for more advice AND support from others, all for free, they are amazing people campaigning and helping the likes of us

Sam_Spends_Too_Much

As of next week, my overpayment dispute will have been in the hands of Tax Credit for one year. Is there not a time limit they must decide in?? I had to get the forms back to them within so many weeks, do they not have to return the favour??

My saga with them is endless, they leave my children out, give me jobs I've never had and even updated on their system that my husband and I have divorced!!! It beggars belief.

I just need to know if/when they are going to want the £1000 they think I own them repaid. I've been told previously that because I get a 'higher' amount of money (mostly due to the fact that my daughter gets higher care DLA and this gives me extra on my tax credit) I can afford to pay it back. This couldn't be further from the truth. When they do eventually make a decision, can I request that the payments be lowered or do I have to accept what they set it at??

Thanks for your help xx

whitevanwoman

Sam_Spends_Too_Much wrote: »

As of next week, my overpayment dispute will have been in the hands of Tax Credit for one year. Is there not a time limit they must decide in?? I had to get the forms back to them within so many weeks, do they not have to return the favour??

My saga with them is endless, they leave my children out, give me jobs I've never had and even updated on their system that my husband and I have divorced!!! It beggars belief.

I just need to know if/when they are going to want the £1000 they think I own them repaid. I've been told previously that because I get a 'higher' amount of money (mostly due to the fact that my daughter gets higher care DLA and this gives me extra on my tax credit) I can afford to pay it back. This couldn't be further from the truth. When they do eventually make a decision, can I request that the payments be lowered or do I have to accept what they set it at??

Thanks for your help xx

Hi Sam
Sorry but I haven't got good news - I've been in dispute for 3 years now and its still not resolved. However, rest assured that whilst you are disputing an overpayment, demands for repayment of the overpayment should be suspended. If you have not submitted a dispute form (TC846), you should do so immediately. You can obtain a dispute form by ringing the helpline and requesting one or you can download one from the Tax Credit Casualties website http://www.taxcc.org - click on the how to dispute link and follow their guidelines. I would advise the latter as it is far quicker and the website will give you loads of information about disputing overpayments. There is also a forum where other people like yourself can post asking for help with a problem and you may well find the answer to your problems by reading other people's posts.

Whenever you have any contact with the tax credits office, either by letter or telephone, you should keep careful notes of time, date, and what has been said, together with the helpline advisors name - this is so that you can prove that you have given them the correct information should you need to do so (all calls are recorded and you can request copies of all information held about you including recordings of your phone calls).

From what you have said, it sounds like TCO has made errors in your case so you should have grounds to dispute your overpayment and win, but it will not be easy and you may need to involve your MP to help you. This is what I have had to do - he has helped sort out my new claim and get demands for an alleged overpayment (caused by continual errors and "technical problems") suspended whilst they sort it out.

In theory, TCO can waive overpayments if it will cause you financial hardship so even if you are not able to successfully dispute your overpayment, it is definately worth putting in a written request for a write off on these grounds. Again I would get your MP involved if you have to do this, and send them any supporting information from your GP, community nurse, or daughter's care worker that repayment of the overpayment would cause you and / or your daughter hardship and may have a detrimental effect on her health or disability. However, this should been seen as a last resort if all else fails and as well as involving your MP, I would also consider contacting your local newspaper. There is someone on the taxcc forum who contacted her local newspaper who agreed to do a story keeping her anonymous and within days, the overpayment had been written off.

I hope this helps and do check out the Tax Credit Casualties website - its run by ordinary people like you and me who are fighting back again unfair overpayments which are either incorrect or which have happened due to TCO errors.

Good luck. Don't give in and pay them a penny until you've checked out your rights.

nigel140

hi there, i have just fallen to the tax credit over payment issue.

I registered for my two boys who i took custody of on the 30th of June.. they backpaid me from April... and now want to take it off next years income.

I have all the money they overpaid me, does anyone know if i can simply pay them the money back?

Could they just snatch it out of my account at a moments notice? as i want to seperate it from the normal income, therefore place it into another bank account until they want it...

any one got any thoughts?

thanks

Nige

totalwar_2

I'm so glad to have found this forum but dismayed at the number of families in the same situation as mine.
03/04 a simple call to notify them of changes to my job resulted in a 5k payment and 98 pounds extra ontop of what we were already getting.
I called them to tell them it was wrong and was told if it was someone would be incontact in the next three months:o
4 years later and another overpayment we still owe over 4k and i cant see us paying it all back before my 5 year old son reaching 16.:eek:
we followed the appeals process three times only to be told we supplied incorrect information each time but as i know i did'nt.
The bit that really gets me is i could'nt speak to anyone about the appeal,the operators only have whats in front of them and who ever deals with the appeals cannot be contacted.:mad:
is that it or can something be done

debsf1

Thank goodness for finding this forum, I no longer feel as though I am the only one suffering this nightmare called tax credit overpayment!!!.
Over the past eighteen months I have been dragged into court 5 times by HMRC in their unrelenting attempt to get me to pay back an 'overpayment' which WAS THEIR FAULT (and they even accepted that fact, and the fact that I had queried it and been told numerous the payment was correct).
Finally on the 12th of this month I was in court AGAIN and surprise surprise I was told by the judge that although he believed every word I had said and all the evidence that he had seen from me it was not within his jurisdiction to find against the HMRC and therefore he ordered that I now pay back £4817.71 by 9th September thank you very much.....

I have to own up and admit that I told the judge and the HMRC rep EXACTLY where they could put the judgment.

TCC are helping me try to get the judgment overturned and I am so grateful that there are other people out there who willingly help others like me.

The continued stress of all of this has made my life an absolute misery for the past 18 months and now the stress just goes on and on as does my fight for justice. I will not give up until I have tried absolutely everything that I can.

kimlisa66

Afternoon people

Just very quickly scanned some of the posts on here re: Tax Credits, just want to say to those in dispute regarding overpayments, do not give up hope.

Mine took 5 years, but I had an overpayment of nearly 20,000 wiped out. HMRC admitted the mistake was theirs completely despite me telling them for the past 5 years I wasn't being paid the right amount of money, they insisted I was....it went on and on.

They then blamed me for the mistakes they made, lost my claim forms, denied various phone calls had been made, lost letters I had sent via recorded delivery and finally decided to send in the bailiffs in November, just after I had split up with my husband. I had a complete breakdown and ended up practically suicidal, was off work for nearly 2 months because of the stress they put me through.

After months of letters toin and froing to my MP, I wrote one more letter to them detailing every mistake they had made from day one, and I finally got them to write the whole lot off.

I disputed the final amount of overpayment (20k) as I was definitely entitled to something but the waters became so muddied they couldnt work out exactly what I should have got so it was easier to write it off.

I now claim as a single parent but I keep a close eye on my payments to ensure this never ever happens again.

Good luck and persevere with it..
K

taxcreditvictim

Update from last time.....
sent form back late ... told claim was ended and I was to pay back all I had received for 2006-7.
Sent new form and told them in enclosed letter not to pay me any money, the form was only so they could take what they call "Overpayments" from my current claim and when that was done my claim was to be ended and I never want to speak to them again.

They wouldn't do that. They ignored my instructions not to pay me anything and then sent a load of cheques. I cashed them and used them to pay back the 2k for 2006 to 2007.

On 6th July this year I sent back the filled in renewal form with the following covering letter:
..................................................................................

Dear Sir or Madam,




Please find enclosed my tax credits renewal form. Please do not send me any money as despite my continuing entitlement, I wish to end my claim as soon as you are satisfied that I owe you no more money. I have already repaid all the tax credits received for 2005 to 2006 due to my form being late.

Change in circumstances

It is not clear from the form weather you have taken into account my son moving out in November. Please find attached another copy of the letter I sent you at the time.


I'm not sure if its relevant to the claim, but the income shown of 24,830 is for the year 1/4/07 to 31/3/08. My current years income is expected to be dramatically down on that and indeed my vat quarter of March to May this year shows a loss.

Disclosure of information

Following your requirement that I repay all of my 2005 to 2006 Tax credits on the grounds that my form was approx 6 weeks late I have written to my MP, Mark Hunter, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Leader of the opposition David Cameron, with the recommendation that the Tax Credits system be abolished. You are hereby authorized to provide any of my personal information to the above named , their agents , employees and any of their wives, children or nannies who may be acting as researchers .

Yours sincerely,

.......................................................................

Then I got a standard renewal reminder saying they had not received my renewal so I phoned , still within the required renewal time, and renewed with all the same info as per the form and above letter requesting that as soon as my account was clear my claim was to be ended.

Then I started getting demands for a new set of overpayments, first 767 pounds then 1489 pounds.

I wrote asking them to take these alleged overpayments from my current entitlement and then end the claim. I didn't receive a reply so I was forced to phone and speak to them im person , something I find extreemly difficult as I don't posess an English/Imbecile-Imbecile/English dictionary.

The upshot is, after the phonecall which was the most stressfull experience of my 43 year life, that they ended my current claim on the renewal phone call but will not offset any overpayments against my current entitlement as my claim is now "ended"

They accept that I have a low income, they accept that I have a child, they accept that I renewed within the time frame required but they still won't offset what they say I owe them against what they owe me. I havn't even looked into the issue of if their overpayment claim is correct.

During the phonecall I was taunted with an invitation to open a new claim knowing full well that would not affect the overpayments but would make the whole Tax Credit nightmare go for even more years.

Make no mistake about I beleive these people are some of the nastiest most evil and vindictive people on the face of the planet.

whitevanwoman

Hi tax credit victim (as we all are sadly)
Go to www.taxcc.org and follow the instructions for disputing a claim, as from what you have said, it is quite likely that your "overpayment" was not originally your fault, but caused by TCO errors.

From the tax credit casualties home page, you will find a link to the forum - post the same details as you have posted here onto the taxcc forum and I am sure someone will be able to advise you on what to do regarding ending a claim, as I remember reading that this was a continuing problem with people being unable to exit the system. I think someone has put together a template for a letter to send to TCO to end your entitlement.

If you get no satisfactory response from your MP, continue to chase him. MPs have a dedicated hotline to the tax credit office and your complaint will automatically go to a higher tier of complaint if referred by your MP. Labour MPs may not be so accomodating as conservatives, but they are duty bound to serve you in the same way, and at the moment, Labour can ill afford to alienate the voting public any more. You can always suggest that you are about to contact the press as there seems to be no further options open to you - even if you don't intend to do that, the suggestion might help your MP to pull out his finger, so to speak.

Good luck, keep fighting them, they are bullies and will take advantage of people like you and me, who have found ourselves dependent on an unfair and error-ridden system. They rely on the fact that we may not have the resources, the knowledge or the strength to fight back and sadly many people do end up repaying money that was rightfully theirs in the first place, putting themselves into debt and further misery.