Tax Credit "Overpayment"

[meandmine]

Boy, have I f****d up? Or is it HMRC? Or Gordon Brown?
I'm a single Mum working 2 days a week. I would be much better off on Income Support, were it not for tax credits. Even with tax credits, I still need Housing Benefits to pay the rent - 2 days a week, even on a professional salary, won't pay the rent in Oxford!
Last year I had to move house (yet another landlord selling up to cash in on the housing market), and in the move I neglected to tell the tax credits people that I'd moved house, and I missed a 'critical' form-submission deadline. They've now landed me with a bill for £2,200 in "overpayments" (If I had got the form in on time, I would have been entitled to all the money).
I appealed the decision, and it's taken them 9 months to process the appeal, at the end of which I've just been told the overpayment 'stands' and I've no further right of appeal.
If, 12 months ago, I had known that my tax credits were going to be cancelled, I could have told Housing Benefit, and they would have made up 65% of the difference ... but a year later, and I've no right to make a retrospective claim for HB.
The result is that for my 2 days a week work over the last year I'm now £1500 worse off than I would have been if I hadn't done any work at all.
I've just had 2 days of conversations with HMRC call centres, and have been given repeatedly contradictory advice and information - I've also been in touch with citizens advice bureau, and received different information again.
Where can I go? I don't have £2,200 in the bank ... It's not that I've extravagantly spent a large overpayment, it's all gone on essentials. HMRC want £10 per week - I'll be back down to Income Support income levels, but with all the costs of a professional job (travel, clothing, etc.) ... do I really not have right of appeal? Is there an Ombudsman I can go to?
Anyone with similar experiences and useful advice - please post! I'm pretty desparate!

[bezzer1955]

Hi there! I can only tell you of my experience of WTC...
My husband claimed WTC for our family up until 2002 at which time he lost his job through illness and the benefit changed to Child Tax Credit (same horse, different jockey) together with Incapacity Benefit (Income Support). Each year I dutifully completed the Annual Review form which was quite easy because our only source of income was Income Support. However I did incur a 6 month overpayment during the year my husband ceased employment - due to the fact that I did not inform Inland Revenue when my husband's SSP stopped and Incapacity commenced. I acknowledged this 6 months overpayment to an IR advisor when I phoned Tax Credits Hotline. She told me not to worry and that they would sort it out. That was in the August and they were swift to recover the overpayment - all subsequent payments were reduced significantly - our CTC payments were reduced by almost £200. We were only able to cope with the shortfall because we used the remainder of our meagre savings to get by. Personally, I felt comforted thinking that the debt (amount unknown - never received any paperwork from IR)would be paid back by the beginning of the next financial year...

You can imagine my utter disbelief when, in March last year, I phoned the TC hotline for confirmation that the 'overpayment for 02/03 had been repaid in full' (convinced it was, in view of the fact that they had deducted almost 3/4 of our monthly Tax Credits for the previous 7 months) only to be told...
"NO, WE HAVEN'T CALCULATED THAT YET BUT YOU ALSO HAVE OVERPAYMENTS FOR YEARS 03/04, 04/05, 05/06, AND 06/07"!!!

Had I not been sat down at the time then I would have fallen down! By then, our savings were used up and we were suffering financial hardship and I was attending weekly counselling for depression, so to be given that devastating news, was a blow too many (by then my marriage was irretrievably broken down and we were separated although still living under same roof) and I actually contemplated suicide as a 'way out'. But luckily for me, that telephone call took place at 2.30 pm on a Friday and I had a vague recollection that my local MP had an open surgery on Fridays from 3.30 - 5pm. Consequently, I rushed off to see her, with copious amounts of neatly filed tax credits documentation which I dumped on her desk and burst out crying! She assured me that she would everything withhin her power to get it sorted and for me not to worry. I felt as though a huge weight had bee lifted from my shoulders. To cut a long story short, it took her exactly a year to 'get to the bottom of it' via the MP's Hotline and many letters, and almost a year to the day that I dumped my file on her desk I received a letter from the RT HON JANE KENNEDY MP (HM TREASURY) informing me that...

"UNDER THE PRINCIPLES OF THE REVISED CODE OF PRACTICE 26, HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS HAVE DECIDED THAT THEY WERE WRONG TO ASK MR & MRS .... TO REPAY THE OVERPAYMENTS. HMRC HAVE ASKED ME TO PASS ON THEIR APOLOGIES THAT THEY DID NOT MAKE THESE DECISIONS PREVIOUSLY AND FOR ANY WORRY AND UPSET THAT THIS HAS CAUSED. HMRC WILL MAKE A COMPENSATION PAYMENT TO MR & MRS... FOR THE WORRY, UPSET AND FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES THEIR ACTIONS HAVE CAUSED".

Also attached to this letter was a 3 page report itemising, in detail, each and every mistake that was made with my 'account' during the 6 year period!

Mind you, 'they' continue to make 'mistakes' because the compensation cheque that I was to receive within 14 days of the date of their letter, still hasn't materialised to date - 4 weeks later! I made a telephone enquiry to this end but, would you believe it? they "had no record of it"!!! I'm afraid I was back on the phone to my saint of an MP and got her on the case again. She telephoned the HMRC on same day and phoned me to advise that they have admitted to yet another "mistake" but that a cheqe will be drawn up and I should receive it within 2 weeks. I'm not holding my breath but I will advise my MP if it doesn't turn up on the 14th day!

Under the circumstances, I will be eternally grateful to my MP, as without her tenacity on my behalf, I KNOW that I alone could not have resolved this tangled mess of maladministration by HMRC. I doubt that all MPs are as good as mine, but if you decide to approach yours I wish you luck. After all, you have nothing to lose but much to gain. Sorry but I couldn't be brief if my life depended on it!!!

Here's wishing you all the luck you're going to need! Keep us posted.

[adamrao]

Sorry to know about Tax Credit Overpayment. Just few questions I would like to ask?

You can apply Housing and Council Tax Benefit backdated payments for upto 52 weeks!!!!!!!! have you tried this. you have to give a valid and solid reason to support your backdating request to your local council.

Secondly - have you sent your last year P60 to tax credit office? Also have you told them this OP would cause you financial hardship?

to dispute with over payment you need to fill TC846 form asap which you can get by ringing 0845 300 3900 and also ask them to send you a breakdown of Overpayment. If you feel advisor isnot sure about your case th you then ask them to put you through to O/P department.

You can download TC846 form from this link http://www.hmce.eu/forms/tc846.pdf but first get the OP breakdown from Tax Credit Office.

Keep us updated for further advice.

cheers