I had a joint Tax Credit claim with my ex partner. We split in May 2009 I told them within 7 days, the claim ended I made a new one. I telephoned and told them of our income for 2008/09 but I can't remember the exact date. My ex partner told them of the income details in a letter dated 25th August. TCO wrote and said we'd been overpaid as we hadn't informed them of our income for 2008/09. I telephoned them and they told me they only had information of me informing them but not him. I asked for an appeal pack, I heard nothing for about 3 months then got a letter from the recovery department demanding I pay back the overpayment. Went through the whole case again, the referred me back to TCO who I went through the story again and once again asked for an appeal pack. I at last received the pack, appealed the decision and have now been told my appeal was unsuccesful and that they believe we did not meet our responsibilities as set out in their Code of Practice 26.

I am really upset as we only earned what we said we were going to earn that year (he was self employed for part of the year and employed for the other) and I telephoned them with the info and my ex partner wrote to them. If they agreed we had both informed them there would not have been an overpayment as the income details were correct so the problem arises from them saying we didn't inform them of our income for the year. I am thinking of writing asking for all the information they have of our contact with their office but not sure how to word it. Also if I dispute the claim with them is it just going to come down to my word against theirs that yes we posted the letter to them informing them of the changes and them saying they never received one? Is it possible for me to maybe do a Statutory Declaration swearing that I definitely posted a letter to them? (it was me who posted it god forbid he would pay for a stamp lol)

To be honest I'm finding it difficult surviving on the money I'm getting at the moment without finding £1000 to pay back to them. They claim the overpayment was 1728.43 and they have already claimed back £672.62) Any ideas on what I can do next please, any advice gladly received.

bumping in case anyone has any ideas please?

No direct answers, but this might help....

I had one of these creeps chasing me for almost 4 years for a £2500 "overpayment".

Apparently, the ex was already paying the same back in installments. Me being a little more devious and suspicious, asked for proof. The only answer Tax Credits had to that was to up the ante with threats of court etc.

I tried the phone number for overpayments and had one hell of a bust up with the most ignorant woman on the planet. She wasnt interested in anything I had to say and simply kept repeating over and over again "Do you admit to owing this money"? It made me think that all she wanted was to get me to say yes in a recorded phone call ( No chance at all).

Finally she told me that "Overpayments" held no records and that I would be better phoning the helpline.

When I did phone the helpline, I got the antithesis of this bloody haridan - a very helpful woman who told me - after checking the dates they had and mine, and that they corresponded - that any phone calls made throughout a claim period, or indeed letters sent cancelling or altering a claim wouldnt necessarily put things right.

I cancelled my claim six months before it was due for renewal. When the automatic claim pack came ( six months later) I threw it in the bin thinking it wasnt necessary - it is! Seems that if you dont fill it in and send it back, the system automatically cancels any credits for that whole claim period - in my case it created a demand for £2500 which was half the claim for the first six months of the claim period.

The ex wife is paying the other £2500 back at the moment. Ive tried so hard to get myself to tell her that she shouldnt be repaying it but try as I might - I just cannot do it:-) Bloody cow:D