Hi and welcome to the site,
How to dispute a tax credits decision.
If they have paid you too much tax credit, they may ask you to pay it back. If they made a mistake or gave you incorrect advice, you can dispute their decision. They may then decide to write off some or all of the overpayment.
Disputing an overpayment
To dispute your overpayment you can fill in and send back to them form TC846.
You can either download form TC846 from their website or ask the Tax Credit Helpline to send you a copy.
Go to Form TC846 Tax Credits Overpayment (PDF 250K)
Or you can write to them instead, but in your letter you’ll need to give them all your details and tell them why you think you shouldn’t have to pay back your overpayment.
What happens next?
Once they have received your form or letter, they will write to tell you:
- that they will stop recovering the overpayment until they have finished looking at the details
- what'll happen next
How they make their decision
They make the decision based on whether you have met certain responsibilities, and whether they have too.
They check that they:
- put the right information on your award notice based on the information you gave them
- correctly worked out and paid you the right amount of tax credits based on the information you gave them
- recorded any information you gave them when reporting a change of circumstance and sent you an updated award notice within 30 days
- answered any queries on your award notice if you contacted them
- gave you the correct advice if you asked them for information
They check that you:
- gave them information that's correct, up to date and complete when claiming or renewing your tax credits
- reported any changes of circumstance in the timescales listed on the checklist
- checked your award notice and told them about any mistakes within one month of receiving it
- checked your payments matched the amounts shown on your award notice
They will only write off the overpayment if they did not meet all of their responsibilities but you met all of yours. This may happen for example if they did not apply a change of circumstances within one month or they gave you incorrect advice.
They may not ask you to pay back an overpayment if you contacted them to tell them about personal circumstances that meant you could not check your award notice or bank payments. For example you or a family member was seriously ill in hospital.
If you disagree with the decision
When they have made their decision they will write to tell you if:
- they will write off some or all of the overpayment
- you have to pay it back
they willalso tell you the reasons for their decision.
If you're not happy with the decision and you've got some new information, please write and tell them as soon as possible. They will stop recovering the overpayment again and look at the new information.
They may also review a case if you feel that they have not taken into account previous information you gave them. However, they will start collecting back the overpayment whilst looking at this information.
If you haven't got new information but you are still unhappy with the decision, you can talk to an organisation like Citizens Advice or Community Legal Advice. They'll help you consider your options.
Find your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau on their website
I sincerely hope this helps.
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