Thread: Tax Credit Overpayments

Hi peeps, I know a few people have posted about this and I have read through the threads but I *think* my situation is slightly different and shows a new level of incompetence bounding through the ranks at the Inland Revenue. (Sorry for the length of this post in advance....hope it makes sense! lol)

The story so far is:-

I received my award notice for 05/06 in August 05 - fine no problem all info correct (have checked and rechecked to make sure!)

I notified them in writing of a change in circumstances dated Nov 05 - No reply received, was busy in December giving birth so forgot about it.

Remembered In Jan that I needed to get on to them, so wrote again in Jan 06 - received a new award notice (No.2) in Feb 06, which contained the same info as my award in Aug 05 but with my award reduced by £850, I telephoned to query this and was told they were dealing with my change of circumstances and I would receive a new award notice in due course.

Received another award notice (No.3) in March 06 which was exactly the same as the Feb06 award notice and still did not take into account my change of circumstances. Phoned again and again informed they were dealing with it.

Received another notice (No.4) in May 06 (after the end of the award period) this notice was for the period from Jan to April 06 and had my income as NIL so I phoned again and informed them of their error.

Received another notice in June 06 (No.5) for the period from Apr 05 to Oct 05, which had all the correct info.

Received another notice (No.6) in August 06 for the period from Jan 06 to Apr 06 which again shows the correct info....finally

However they have not provided an award from Oct 05 to Jan 06, they say I have been overpaid nearly £2,000 and they have refused my dispute on the grounds "The income we held from the start of your award was NIL. You notified us of the change but by this time we had already paid you tax credits that you were not entitled to".

Now I have phoned the helpline and they have confirmed that they had my income details correct at the start of my award (in fact they had too much income - due to my mat leave) and it was only in May 06 after the award period that I received an award notice stating an income of NIL.

BUT it gets better, I have no received no less than 5 award notices so far for this year.

No1. May 06 Had my income as Nil - I phoned and corrected their error at the same time as I corrected their error for 05/06

No2. May 06 Had correct income details and No other incorrect info

No3. July 06 Had correct income details and No other incorrect info

No4. August 06. Had correct income details and No other incorrect info but shows an overpayment now of £1185 + £1840 for 05/06

No5. September 06. Had correct income details and No other incorrect infor but shows and overpayment now of £1207.60 + £1840 for 05/06

Just how incompetent can some people be, don't get me wrong I know the computer system and paperwork is a nightmare but surely if we can take the time to fill it out timeously and correctly then they can at least process it so that this exact situation can be avoided.

So despite following all their proceedures to the letter I now find myself with a debt of £3,000.

I have been advised by a helpfull chap at the Tax Credit Office to fill out an Appeal form for 05/06 and a Dispute Form for 06/07, so we shall see what this brings but I don't hold out much hope!

Any advice much appreciated guys

Thanks

Vonnie xxx

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Originally Posted by vonnie32

Hi peeps, I know a few people have posted about this and I have read through the threads but I *think* my situation is slightly different and shows a new level of incompetence bounding through the ranks at the Inland Revenue. (Sorry for the length of this post in advance....hope it makes sense! lol)

The story so far is:-

I received my award notice for 05/06 in August 05 - fine no problem all info correct (have checked and rechecked to make sure!)

I notified them in writing of a change in circumstances dated Nov 05 - No reply received, was busy in December giving birth so forgot about it.

Remembered In Jan that I needed to get on to them, so wrote again in Jan 06 - received a new award notice (No.2) in Feb 06, which contained the same info as my award in Aug 05 but with my award reduced by £850, I telephoned to query this and was told they were dealing with my change of circumstances and I would receive a new award notice in due course.

Received another award notice (No.3) in March 06 which was exactly the same as the Feb06 award notice and still did not take into account my change of circumstances. Phoned again and again informed they were dealing with it.

Received another notice (No.4) in May 06 (after the end of the award period) this notice was for the period from Jan to April 06 and had my income as NIL so I phoned again and informed them of their error.

Received another notice in June 06 (No.5) for the period from Apr 05 to Oct 05, which had all the correct info.

Received another notice (No.6) in August 06 for the period from Jan 06 to Apr 06 which again shows the correct info....finally

However they have not provided an award from Oct 05 to Jan 06, they say I have been overpaid nearly £2,000 and they have refused my dispute on the grounds "The income we held from the start of your award was NIL. You notified us of the change but by this time we had already paid you tax credits that you were not entitled to".

Now I have phoned the helpline and they have confirmed that they had my income details correct at the start of my award (in fact they had too much income - due to my mat leave) and it was only in May 06 after the award period that I received an award notice stating an income of NIL.

BUT it gets better, I have no received no less than 5 award notices so far for this year.

No1. May 06 Had my income as Nil - I phoned and corrected their error at the same time as I corrected their error for 05/06

No2. May 06 Had correct income details and No other incorrect info

No3. July 06 Had correct income details and No other incorrect info

No4. August 06. Had correct income details and No other incorrect info but shows an overpayment now of £1185 + £1840 for 05/06

No5. September 06. Had correct income details and No other incorrect infor but shows and overpayment now of £1207.60 + £1840 for 05/06

Just how incompetent can some people be, don't get me wrong I know the computer system and paperwork is a nightmare but surely if we can take the time to fill it out timeously and correctly then they can at least process it so that this exact situation can be avoided.

So despite following all their proceedures to the letter I now find myself with a debt of £3,000.

I have been advised by a helpfull chap at the Tax Credit Office to fill out an Appeal form for 05/06 and a Dispute Form for 06/07, so we shall see what this brings but I don't hold out much hope!

Any advice much appreciated guys

Thanks

Vonnie xxx

I had a new award today saying I owe £1300 and a letter saying that they have run out of appeal forms and will send me one in due course!

Incompetence reigns eh! lol - at least they are consistent

You won't believe this latest nugget....they've only gone and paid more money into my account!!!!!

I phoned them up to ask why, when I have 2 award notices from them (one in August the other in September) that clearly state I owe them money so I am not going to be receiving any T/C's for the rest of the year and guess what - they have NO idea why they have sent this payment.....unbloodybelie vable.

What do I do now?????

I can't physically stop them sending unsolicited money to my account for no apparent reason, they don't know why they are sending money to the account and therefore can't do anything about it.........the whole thing is a joke....a very bad joke though when you end up owing thousands of pounds for a situation which is out of your control.

Sorry for ranting

Vonnie x

Thanks John it's good to know I'm not the only one but surely this lot need to be brought into line, I'm sure if we all filled in our tax returns like this we would end up in the jail!

I'm at a loss as to what else I can do and if they don't know what i can do then god help us.....feel a letter or even better a visit brewing to the MP, see if he can sort them out.

Thanks for the support
Vonnie xx

Woodpecker are they saying they paid you wrong all the way through or have they just stuffed up your claim? If it's the later then you can appeal.

I'm now appealing for 05/06 and asking them to re-look at 06/07, I've also sent a copy of my correspondence to the MP, he has replied saying it's inappropriate for him to get involved during the appeals process but if I am unhappy with the outcome of the appeal then he will intervene.

I wait with baited breath to see what excuses they come up with this time!

No I wouldn't think so, if you are appealing they should cease any further collection until the appeal outcome has been decided, if you provide me with further details I will be able to help you set out the grounds for your appeal if you would like. There is an initial form to fill in which is very basic and asks them to relook at your claim, if you are unhappy with their response then you have to appeal, so it really depends on what stage you are at with them.

Please just don't accept that cause they are demanding the money they are actually in the right.

I haven't had any letters from them yet to start collecting my overpayments and I don't expect to receive any until my complaints/appeal has been dealt with.

The problem with this lot is there is no standard payment amounts. i.e. if you're on £250 per week and pay £75 childcare you'll get £x tax credit.

There's no where you can check if you're receiving the correct entitlement - I've a felling they've cocked mine up too, although they've not asked for anything back (yet) but the system just seems totally up the wall.

I have a married friend with a daughter who they don't need to pay childcare for - they have a jiont income the same as mine. I'm a single mum pay £36 a week childcare & they get paid more than me - how the bloody 'ell does that work?

I really have no idea.
Good luck with it x

Finally I have got to the root of the problem. When I filled in my new claim for due to a change of circumstances half way through the year I did not put mine or my partners income details on the form.

I did supply them with several letters informing them of our income but for some reason when it came to filling in the form I've not put our annual income in, I've put where we work how many hours we work payroll no's etc but not the actual amount.

This has been construed by some silly person as a nil income (my hubby works for the civil service, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out we had omitted to answer the question) we did not fill our income in as zero, they did.

I've now got the full data protection papers and plan to write to them once more to reconsider my appeal.

Originally Posted by vonnie32

Finally I have got to the root of the problem. When I filled in my new claim for due to a change of circumstances half way through the year I did not put mine or my partners income details on the form.

I did supply them with several letters informing them of our income but for some reason when it came to filling in the form I've not put our annual income in, I've put where we work how many hours we work payroll no's etc but not the actual amount.

This has been construed by some silly person as a nil income (my hubby works for the civil service, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out we had omitted to answer the question) we did not fill our income in as zero, they did.

I've now got the full data protection papers and plan to write to them once more to reconsider my appeal.

Silly person is an understatement. If you have Nil Income you would not be entitled to even claim Tax Credits let alone receive an overpayment.

Actually you can claim tax credits with a nil income if you are working more than 30 hrs per week or something but the only way you could be in this position is if you were self-employed which we clearly weren't.

You can claim tax credits and be deemed to have a nil income if you work over 16 hours a week and are not getting paid through sickness etc as well.