tax credit overpayments new report published

broxiebear1

Shez wrote: »

I am so pleased i read this thread!!!! I too have received a bill for an overpayment of £799 (sat morning so you cant get anyone on the phone till monday!!) It said they had told me about my overpayment - but I havent had any letters at all! so doesnt explain why.

today i receive another letter saying that ive been overpaid by £3400 for another tax year!!!

I was so upset about all this, gobsmacked, couldnt believe it had happened to me - ive always worked and given them every correct information each step of the way so as to avoid this kind of situation happening - but it still has!!!

I felt very alone until i just read all your responses and am glad im not alone in this!

I telephoned them and they said they would send out dispute forms for me to fill in and they then look at the case?

What a rotten time of year to send me this - how do you have a happy christmas with this sort of thing on your mind??

hi i to was sent a letter about overpayment i have worked all my life and wish i never ever claimed working tax shambles i even recieved a letter stating that as i was earning £240 per year my award would be x amount i phoned them stating what clown would work for £240 per year anywayi phoned them as i couldnt afford to pay overpayment £1000 andd they put me to someone i forget who i gave them a s o a and he said he would get them to stop sending letters etc i havnt hard from them for a year now

SummErSpring07

Hi, I have just been reading the threads about overpayment!! I too received a letter on Saturday telling me that I owe them over 3000 pounds! It states different amounts for each year since 2005 even though every year they do a summary of the money they have paid me and what I might still owe them...! So, of course, I have believed that any over payment has been dealt with every year and taken away from my new entitlement... How can they get it so wrong?? Has anybody been in touch with their local MP and the European Parliament? After all, why should we suffer at the hands of incompetent people when the government has put this into place to help people but all they are doing is getting us into debt year after year...!! Don't we have any rights in this country?? Thanks for the advice anyway, and I am going to get in touch with them asap to contest this amount and see what they do....

whitevanwoman

SummErSpring07 wrote: »

Hi, I have just been reading the threads about overpayment!! I too received a letter on Saturday telling me that I owe them over 3000 pounds! It states different amounts for each year since 2005 even though every year they do a summary of the money they have paid me and what I might still owe them...! So, of course, I have believed that any over payment has been dealt with every year and taken away from my new entitlement... How can they get it so wrong?? Has anybody been in touch with their local MP and the European Parliament? After all, why should we suffer at the hands of incompetent people when the government has put this into place to help people but all they are doing is getting us into debt year after year...!! Don't we have any rights in this country?? Thanks for the advice anyway, and I am going to get in touch with them asap to contest this amount and see what they do....

Go to www.taxcc.org which is an internet peer support group for people with tax credit overpayments and follow their "how to dispute" advice. It is also worth posting in the new members thread on their forum. I would definitely go to your MP although it might be worth waiting until you have got an explanation as to the reasons for the overpayments. Even if your MP is labour, with an election coming up soon, they will probably be sympathetic, and they do have a duty to assist. MPs have a direct line to tax credits and if your dispute / complaint is referred by an MP, it automatically goes to a higher level in the dispute process and it should help speed up the process.

You need to look for clear errors by HMRC as being the cause of the overpayments to get them written off. Unfortunately they will argue that if they made an error which you didn't notice on the award statement, then you have failed in your responsibilities by not informing of them of an error, so be prepared to prove that you did keep them informed of every change, or error etc. The website above gives advice about how to request a copy of all information held about you including copies of phone calls which you can use as evidence that you met your responsibilities by keeping them informed etc. The dispute process is hard work and often complicated overpayments take a long time to be resolved but whilst you are in dispute, they will stop recovery of the overpayment until the dispute is resolved.

But it is possible to get an overpayment written off and I received a letter from tax credits yesterday telling me that my dispute had been upheld and they had written off an overpayment of £380 as I was able to prove that it was their error, and that 3 different members of staff including a senior manager had not calculated my entitlement correctly and had given incorrect information to both me and my MP, and I could not have possibly known that the information given was incorrect. It is only a small amount in comparison to some of the horrendous overpayments that people are suddenly notified of, but having just been made redundant, every penny counts at the moment, and it is as much about the principle that I should not be financially liable for staff errors as it is about the money.

Good luck and keep fighting against the overpayments, don't let them bully you or grind you down into repaying until you have exhausted the dispute process. The only way this horrendous system is going to be changed or simplified is if enough people dispute overpayments and the cost of investigating disputes and writing off overpayments is so great that they have to amend the system so that it is simpler and does not generate routine overpayments, and is less like a bank loan system.

SummErSpring07

Thank you so much for the advice. It is greatly appreciated. You are absolutely right... If all started a formal complaint at No.10 and these organisations wasted so much money on the administration, I'm sure they would do their job properly. The thing is that their leaflet states very clearly that if there is any outstanding amount you owe them the following year, they will automatically deduce it from the next award, and that is what it says in the paperwork I have now gone through... Also, I have three letters from August and September 2008 stating that I owe them 3 different amounts... So they can't even agree with their own figures!! I shall get in touch with them, sending them the copies of paperwork they have sent me, and you are right, once I start, if they are being very difficult I shall contact my MP... I still think we should all start a petition, all over ENGLAND, to show the unfairness of the system... After all, this benefit was introduced to ensure that women had better access to work whilst getting some financial help, which was to encourage women not to stay at home... I believe this was a great idea, but what is the point of it, if in actual fact they have put so many families in debt!!!! As you say, we might have less trouble if we had taken on a bank loan, at this rate!!!

whitevanwoman

There is an online petition here http://www.petitiononline.com/tco1

It was started by the person who started the Tax Credit Casualties (www.taxcc.org) website.

Good luck, don't give in and repay without a damn good fight!

SummErSpring07

Thank you for all your help!! I have now started the procedures and the dispute form, together with a letter, has been sent - as per the website you gave me - recorded delivery...! Let's see what they come up with... I'll keep you posted! Many thanks

christine_chris_chrissy

I have recieved similar demands on two seperate occasions the first time I phoned them they told me to ignor it was a computer glitch,The second time I put the demands back in the reply envelope & returned to sender sorted.This was a fair few years ago I cannot believe the problem is still going on,..oh hang on yes I can

moyra

had a phone call last week about an overpayment of £1300.which spanned about 3yrs payments, ive got all my paper work from the working tax, but cant find all the p60's i need, what's my next step do i go to cab or contact the tax office to see if they can send me copies of p60's
( argh iwas debt free )

ceejaydee23

I hope someon might beable to help here! I have just read on Martins email, that overpayments due to HMRC's cockups dont have to be repaid! I wish i had known this sooner, as between October 2008 and April 2009 after notifying TC's that i was no longer having childcare costs due to my working hours changing, i was told id have a 4 week run on, but because my payments changed slightly i thought they had already been adjusted, It wasnt until i made my renewal that I found out they hadnt, and basiclly ever since they have been clawring back an overpayemnt which was more than £500. Even when i told the woman when i made my renewal i had called back in october to notify them, she agreed it was there on my file! Is it too late to try and claim back this money? As even when i moved and my circumstances changed again (living with partner, and having a baby) i got a bill for the remaining outstanding amount!

jacx2

I had an overpayment of over £2,500, in 2008 this was admitted as their mistake on the phone... I requested the data they held on me to be sent to me under the data protection act in February 2009 and the repayments stopped...... in July 2009 the repayments started again to date I have had no response to my appeal and I'm still repaying the monies started every time I phone I get told they will referrer this to there manager and I should hear from the appeals department soon....... its been 12 months now and I'm still waiting
its a good job I'm not holding my breath _pale_