Keep a copy of WTC/CTC etc. applications

I had a letter from Inland Revenue this morning saying that they had not received all the information needed to confirm my claim and that I have an overpayment of £3197.00 >:( >:(

I have already had another wrong assessment where they had my circumstances wrong a couple of months ago.

I phoned them and the bloke wouldn't say what information was supposed to have not been received. (This 13 minute phone call at my expense.) He asked what I had earned for the tax year 2003-4 and when I told him he said that my award would be reinstated and should be sorted out in 7-10 days. I asked why I had this letter at all and he said my claim had never been processed properly! He said that sending these letters is a good way of getting people to respond who have not given all the information. But I have. >:(

So......always keep a copy of any of these forms that you fill in and if you phone them have the information to hand so you don't have to go scrabbling about for the right piece of paper (like I did!).

Apart from the fact that I gave them the information at the beginning of the tax year when I renewed my claim, it is upsetting and annoying to receive a letter that says you owe a large overpayment. The total incompetance of the Inland Revenue in dealing with WTC/CTC claims still goes on.
Torgwen.......... :) ...........

Comments

  • Trix
    Trix Posts: 10,266
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    Exactly the same has happened to me. I got an award notice a couple of weeks back for 2004 - 2005 with re-adjusted payments to my bank and a note on the back saying I owed them £1,277 which was bad enough and I was meaning to contact them to ask about it. Yesterday I got a letter saying I hadn't given enough information and I now owe £5,632 :o

    I phoned up and was told I hadn't sent my form back - I said yes I have, he said well we didn't get it. Asked for explanation about award letter and he just kept saying 'we haven't got your form from you so your payments have been stopped' :'(

    When I applied last year they 'lost' 2 forms. I phoned up to give them exactly the same info on 9 occassions (once I was on HOLD for 56 minutes) and I sent two letters. This was because they kept saying I was working full time (hadn't been working at all for 18 months) and hubby wasn't working - which he was, part time, so they kept giving us a lot less than we should have :-/

    I kept a copy of everything I sent last time but forgot this time so now have to go and find out AGAIN how much hubby earned in a year and how much carers allowance was paid.

    Are they doing this delibrately or what >:(
    I'm a little angel o:)BUT A WHOLE LOTTA DEVIL
    'Spend your life with eyes open, sleep only to dream of what to do next'
  • Overpayments of Tax Credits are a hot issue at the moment in the department. They have taken top priority.

    Basically you cannot appeal against an overpayment (it is un-appealable by legislation), you can only appeal against the process. i.e, did the do it right in the first place.

    A lot of people send in appeals letters and forms, but they just get passed straight to the teams that are dealing with them. It then depend entirely on a number of factors:
    1) Who gets to work your overpayment letter
    2) How generous they are
    3) How well you have written the letter
    4) How much information you have supplied us with

    Basically, if you write a nice letter you will get a better service, and more likely to have the overpayment remitted (wiped out).

    When you write your letter, try and be polite. Give as much information as you can, and please please tell us each and every time you have written (with copies if you can), how many times you have phoned and how long you were on the phone for each time. Also the names of people you speak to.

    A lot of officers at the Tax Crdit Office (TCO) have the attitude of "You knew your award was wrong and that we were paying you too much, but you still went ahead and spent it." or "You were told in your first award notice to tell us of any changes and that you could incur an overpayment."

    To sum up, just because we made a mistake, it doesn't mean you are going to get your overpayment cancelled. We are curently only remitting around 20% (a big over-estimate) of Disputed Overpayments.
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