tax credit overpayments new report published

gixxerchick_2

Iv'e had letters too saying we owe them nearly £3500, even though i notified them when my oh was signed off work our payments never changed and i cut my working hours down as our son was only a small baby at the time.
It is soooooo annoying as i argued over the phone that none of the payments had gone up so how come we owe so much? Iv'e got more important bills to sort out than one of theirs. :beer:

thamespirate

hi all two years ago in the summer of 2004 we keep recieving cheques from the tax credit people which we banked , so like good honest people we are we contacted the tax credit people and explained asked if this was correct all these payments to us , they said that they will be incontact they got the money back by not sending us payment monthly , still must be paying them as we have not recieved any payments since.

donna

I've been overpaid £1500ish (apparently) for 04/05 tax year.
04/11/04 - I left my husband, but he still had same job(i wasn't working anyway), kids stayed with him until i could get settled somewhere.
05/11/04 - Physically went to local IR office to tell them i had left him and to give my new address. At same time went to claim IS from office next door.
Approx 2 weeks later received an award letter at my new address from IR with partners details and his wages and how much i would get on WFTC & CTC. I immediately called the helpline and asked why they had sent me an award letter with my x's details when only 2 weeks earlier i had spent over an hour in the IR office crying my eyes out and telling the lady that i had split from him and moved out. I told them it should be him getting the money as i was on IS.
22/11/04 - My x is made redundant and given 4 weeks notice.
10/12/04 - After much help from Gwen, my loan parent advisor i finally got a job with a starting date of 05/01/05. She kindly filled out all the change over forms so that my WFTC & CTC would run straight on from my IS.
20/12/04 - Move in to HA property and kids can now join me.
05/01/05 - Start new job, get WFTC & CTC via Giro
Husband is now unemployed and on JSA
28/02/05 - finally see WFTC in with wage
09/05/05 - After many conversations i move back in with husband and the same day call TC helpline to give change of address not realising that i would have to start from scratch with the claim. I explain that husband is not working so in effect all that is changing with my circs is that i am now part of a couple again and my address is different. My income is going to be exactly the same. Am told bluntly that all payments will stop until my new claim goes through.
13/05/05 - Receive claim form and big green A4 booklet, which i fill in and send back same day.
27/05/05 - No news so i call to chase and am told they are assesing my claim.
I now chase on a twice weekly basis as i am desperate for the money.
01/08/05 - Call TC helpline to tell them i will be changing to a part time job as of the 15/08/05 and give them all relevant info over the phone and tell them that i am now going to be even more desperate for the backdated money they owe me.
15/08/05 - Change to a part time job so that husband can start his college course to retrain for work.
29/08/05 - Chase with helpline again.
For the next ten weeks i keep getting award letters with the wrong info on them, ie saying i'm single, quoting husbands old income from when he was working, saying that i am working 40 hours a week or more when i clearly told them i was only working 25 ect ect. In total we get around 8 different award letters and have to keep calling them to ask them to correct it as we don't want to accept it and get the wrong amount.
07/11/05 - At last get an award letter with our up to date info on them. All correct so allow the payments to start.
For the next few weeks have random amounts of money paid into our bank which are mentioned in our award letter as backdated payment for money they owe us from when the payments stopped at the beggining of June until now.
09/12/05 - Get a letter saying we have been overpaid £1500 and have to pay it back immediately (MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!).
Thankfully over xmas still seem to be getting CTC paid into bank but when i receive Dec pay i have only been paid for 22 days WFTC.

Now as we speak i am not getting either paid to me and when i got my payslip for this month it was for £591.05 after Tax & N.I. How on earth am i expected to keep a family of 4 alive on this with a mortgage and all the other bills.

I rang them for an appeal form after hearing on the tv that they are meant to automatically enclose this and a leaflet with your overpayment letter.

I will fill this in and see where it gets me, but i can't believe they can just stop your money like this. Just when i thought things were finally running smoothly as well.

I can't sleep at night for worrying about this.

They say no further action will be taken against me my while i am appealing!!!! Well thank you very much for your generosity!!!!!!!!!!!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

You say you have moved to a HA property then state you have a morgage to pay If you are in a HA property paying rent, then you should qualify for Housing Benefit and CT benefit if you are on a low income.

Maybe they have just been confused with all the changes in the past 12 months, as there are so many! Im not making excuses for them as you seem to have kept them well informed, but the IR have made so many mistakes with even very basic claims for tax credits.

I would contact your local MP and get this sorted ASAP.

PP
xx

Shez

Donna:

My heart goes out to you....especially as the same thing happened to me I too got a letter just before xmas about overpayment and they wanted it back by 17 Jan!!
I had to ring and get them to send claim form out, which I've done if only to get them to stop harassing me whilst you appeal!!! but like you, I cried, lost sleep worrying, and no dread the thought of any IR letters arriving because I just wont want to open them - especially as their letters always arrive Fridays so it completely ruins your weekend doesnt it???!!!!! and you cant get them on the phone until monday! fume!

and notice how their letters always take about 2.1/2 weeks to get to you, but the letters always say, "you have 30 days from the date of this letter to appeal blah blah"
but you have to "jump to it" and pay the money back within a month!
Its enough to send anyone into depression.

I too am thinking about writing to my MP as it seems to add more weight to your appeal.

I too thought I was alone and the only person it happened to, until I found this thread, then realised it was happening to loads of people and so felt abit better that it wasnt just happening to me. I think you'll find there are lots of people on here that will support you and help you, we should all stick together for moral support.

good luck and dont let them ruin your health over it, cos I can bet they surely arent losing any sleep over it!!

Florrie_Fimble

well i am saddened by the stupidity of the tax office yet heartened it's not just me.

I moved in with a partner and told them when I gave them my change of address. Renew a year later and ask where to put his details - they claim they were never informed and I have to pay back. My payments cease promptly. I fill in forms yet AGAIN for the relevant time period and figure that they will compare what I was paid to what I should have been paid and then probably not pay me for a while til the overpayment is corrected.

Oh how silly I was. They haven't processed any forms for me at all - they just stopped paying me and want £480 now.

In essence they paid me £48 for 10 months and then nothing for 10 months and say I owe them £480 when they should have;

paid me £25 per month for the last 20 months meaning they actually owe me £20!

The person on the helpline was hopeless telling me that I have to pay the £480 before they will process anything else. I think not - that just smacks of governmental blackmail to me - are they so desperate for an interest free loan of almost £500 from little ole me?

DazzerG

Florrie_Fimble wrote:

well i am saddened by the stupidity of the tax office yet heartened it's not just me.

I moved in with a partner and told them when I gave them my change of address. Renew a year later and ask where to put his details - they claim they were never informed and I have to pay back. My payments cease promptly. I fill in forms yet AGAIN for the relevant time period and figure that they will compare what I was paid to what I should have been paid and then probably not pay me for a while til the overpayment is corrected.

Oh how silly I was. They haven't processed any forms for me at all - they just stopped paying me and want £480 now.

In essence they paid me £48 for 10 months and then nothing for 10 months and say I owe them £480 when they should have;

paid me £25 per month for the last 20 months meaning they actually owe me £20!

The person on the helpline was hopeless telling me that I have to pay the £480 before they will process anything else. I think not - that just smacks of governmental blackmail to me - are they so desperate for an interest free loan of almost £500 from little ole me?

If you told them 10 months ago then you need to appeal against the O/P. Call and ask them to send you a COP26. All phonecalls are recorded and will be checked.

Your new joint claim will be processed regardless of the situation surrounding your old single claim.

Florrie_Fimble

Thanks DazzerG - I've got that form coming to me now.

The lady said they will only backdate my joint claim 3 months since they have no record of any paperwork - but that I can again appeal that decision as well.

It also seems that they will never take money from a joint claim to pay off a single claim - which is where i seem to have been misinformed - I should have been paid my joint claim for the past year or so and not been given the impression that it was being withheld to pay off my single overpayment!

sigh - my head is spinning already!

mattt44

We owe over £1500 from the end of 2004.
My partner had started recieving job seekers allowance, after being made reduntant.

We always tell them asap when something changes, she told them what she was recieving JSA, contribution based. We were pleasantly suprised when we started getting a good amount a month.
Then it turns out we were getting paid for INCOME based JSA. So we owed them £1000 ish, that has now gone up to £1500.

After reading this thread I appealed and it was turned down because "we did not keep them updated with our details". The letter said we couldn't appeal against the appeal.
I rang and tried to find out what we hadn't told them, was told it must have been the income instead of contribution based JSA.
"Can I find out if you have a saved phone call with that info on" , "No, you will have to appeal, I'll send you a form"..............

Can we ask to see/hear the evidence on the appeal against the appeal? Does anyone know?

DazzerG

Under the 'Freedom Of Information' act you can request a transcript of any conversations you have had with them, and/or any notes that have been made on your account.

Please note that you can only ask for transcripts of calls that you have made, your partner would need to ask for hers (if any)