Good Morning.

Please could anyone offer advice or shed light on my situation.

Hubby and i split 2016 after i discovered he was having an affair, never thought to finacially seperate as lots of things were going on and i was dealing with heartache.

Fast forward to June 2017 and we decided to give our relationship another go,

i failed to inform tax credits as wanted to make sure that the relationship was going to stick...mistake or not i was stupid.

Recieved a letter of compliance asking In Nov 2017 asking for information to be sent as they have links that x was linked to address,

called them and told them that i fact i was back with hubby and i was sorry i didnt call earlier,

lady told me that as i hadnt finacially seperated and i had no proof he wasnt staying at the property earlier my claim would have to be cancelled from April 2017 and now if things like this happened again i had to make sure i finacially seperate from hubby and that i would be able to make agreed payment amounts to pay back overpayment.

Recieved a letter the following week from compliance team saying

“ thankyou for disclosing that i was living as a couple, my claim has ended and i would recieve a new award for the year.

Following week recieved a amended statement saying if nothing changes between now..nov 2017 and april 2018 i would have a overpayment of just over £4000 but this was still to be confirmed.

Fast forward to present day and i still havent received this final overpayment letter stating what i owe.

Is this normal? 7 months is such a long time and i am panicking they are looking into other things that could lead to me being prosecuted and being sent to prison.

Before our split we had never had to claim tax credits as we were above the threshold.

No other benefits we claimed during our split just tax credits.

I dont know if i am being silly and worrying over nothing.

Shall i call HMRC and enquire when i am likely to hear or just leave it unti they contact me.

If anyone can offer even the smallest of advice that would put my mind a rest i would be eternally grateful.

Many thanks

Sounds like they were waiting until end of tax year before contacting you again and now your item of work is waiting to be done. I suspect that HMRC have huge volumes of work after the end of a tax year and it could be many weeks before they write to you.

Suggest you give it to the end of this month and then chase them up.

My instinct is telling me that it will be treated as a standard overpayment, for which they can add a civil penalty ( not sure of penalty amount, possibly a few hundred) for not advising of your change of circumstances at the time. I am sure if you googled HMRC civil penalty you will get an idea of likely amount.

Thankyou for your reply, i will wait and see if i hear from them and hopefully my nerves and worry will subside of over this matter.

Hi,

I failed to inform tax credits that my single claim should be joint back in July 2017 and through compliance my claim was stopped. Recieved overpayment figure of just over £4000 but this was still to be confirmed, this was back in Nov 2017 and was told if nothing changed before April 2018 this would need to be paid back....i am happy to pay this back as i should not have recieved the funds. However i still havent received a Notice to Pay. Has anyone else been in this situation where they have waited numerous months before hearing from them? Should i call them or just wait and let them write to me? Any advice or words from anyone who has been in same boat would be great

Did you complete the S17 "renewal" form? It won't be confirmed until then because you have some entitlement from 06-04-17 to the end date.

As your claim has ended your s17 may not come until late June.

Once your entitlement is confirmed, the overpayment will be confirmed, then it will go to recovery & Notice to Pay will be sent.

Hi Daisy.

I've merged your new thread with your old one. It's best to stick to one thread per issue.

Best, HB

Thankyou for your reply, I havent filled in any renewal pack, i only received an amended award in Nov 17 saying my claim has ended, u fortunately we are above threshold to make joint claim. Compliance letter was end of Oct 2017 and then received complaince letter stating check has ended and then amended award letter following week. Nothing since Nov 17. Its such a long time to wait, like i say is this normal practice. Just want it aorting really. Is it best to hust sit and wait for them to contaxt me?

Also my claim was ended from April 2017 by compliance team so i shouldnt be entitled to anything, this was because i could not provide evidence that hubby had another fixed abode at this time, very complicated. So i suppose i just have to wait until they contact me i regards to what i owe.

Also can someone inform me if i will have to fill in a renewal pack if my claim has been stopped? Will they not just send me a bill for the overpayment? I do not understand the tax credits system fully as prior to 2016 i have never had to claim any benefits before. If anyone can shed some light i would very much apprecaite it.

Anyone?

I only saw your second post which said July 2017 so I didn't realise. However in your other post you do mention a few different dates.

Please check your last award notice for the end date (it should say on the front, and in the elements section). If that date is on or after 06/04/17 then my previous post is exactly what will happen. You still must complete an s17 ("renewal") to confirm any entitlement owed in that tax year - even if this is confirmation of zero entitlement.

Note: it is possible the claim was ended on 06/04/17 in which case the same thing will happen as the system thinks you technically have entitlement for one day, 06/04/17 to 06/04/17 (I suspect this may be the case, because the system is a pain to backdate further than the current year - it can be done but it is awkward).

Thankyou, i called HMRC and I have sorted it all out and set up overpayment D/D. It will take a few years but its all sorted and i can rest easy.

Thanks for all your advice and support

That's good to know, Daisy and it must be a relief for you. Thank you for updating your thread, it will help other people.

HB