just wanted to update as a lot of people on other posts say how annoying it is not to hear of an outcome. Firstly let me say that i am not writing this from a prison cell. We have paid back overpayment for the years we have been asked about ( £4000) . We have recieved letter saying we are no longer entitled to CTC and our claim has been ended. We dont know if other years will be looked into, if they are we will have to deal with the outcome then. I will say we answered every question asked of us. to others in this position I would say try to keep a sane head about you, I know this is difficult but I have learned that all the worrying in the world will not change anything. Medication may help in the short term( it did for me) but taking pills will not in itself solve this problem. Take each day as it comes , dont worry about what other people might think just concentrate on your family and be strong for each other.

Thankyoou so much for your kind words, I do feel, like the world is ending and am constantly convincing myself of all the worst things that could happen, no one could be harder on me than i am on myself right now. I have an appointment with my doctor tommorrow as i cant eat or sleep for worrying and i know my behaviour is affecting my children and i feel like ive had enough. I need to get my head together I know but its so hard to switch of the worrying. I do not expect anyone to have sympathy for me and my actions, i am the maker of my own troubles but being faced with this now after so long is so much to take in and i only hope i can gather strength from somewhere to see me and my family through this.

I have been to see my fathers friend who worked in the tax office and i have given him all the information i have along with my asurance that i will cooperate fully in any investigation. He is aware of all the details and is writing on my behalf to let them know of my situation. His aim is to guide me through the procedures and anything i dont understand. He has been honest with me and has told me that i will obviously taken to task but has told me he is hopeful it will not result in imprisonment. (I still think this will be the outcome). I am glad i have started trying to deal with this although i am still full of fear for the future. Whatever happens to me is all my own fault . All that matters to me is keeping my family together. I have to start believing that that might just be achievable or i will fall apart. Many many thanks for replying to me and anything else you can think of to help me would be greatfully recieved

Thankyou so much for your reply, I honestly feel that after spending last night going over our tax credit history that we will possibly have been paid more than £15000 more like more than £20000. I may have made some mistakes with that as my mind is afoggy mess right now (I suffer from bad anxiety and am currently on medication), I also have not eaten a thing for days and cannot sleep. Everything is such a mess and I dont know how I am going to cope, I know I deserve no sympathy and I put myself in this position but I know there is punishment waiting for me and all I can see is prison which is what I deserve. I just feel so bad that i have let everyone down. My partner is telling me to be strong but I am just living in constant fear and have no strengh. I am hopefully going to speak to someone today to help guide me trough this, I then will call the tax credit people and tell them everything, this weight has been on my shoullders for so long I am glad it is comming to an end but it still doesnt take away all my worst fears. Do you think I will go to prison or do you think they just want all their money back? I would do anything to fix this.

Thankyou so much for your reply. I am making myself ill as i cant eat or sleep for worrying My partner and my aim is to sell everything we have and borrow wherever possible to offer a large portion of what we have claimed as a lump sum and if possible the full amount. we are going to be completley compliant with whoever deals with us as we know this is the best thing to to and I realise the gravity of our situation. I have read online the punishments for what I have done and I am still convinced I will go to prison and i know I would deserve it as i have commited an offence. The ammount stated in my first post is actually more than £20000 so I am worse than I thought. I am hoping that our compliance will help as the thought of leaving my children is too difficult to bear. I dont care what happens to me as it was me who got myself in this situation and i deserve whatever i get. They have done nothing wrong. I know saying sorry could never be enough but i have never felt so sorry in my life. I am not sorry that it has come to this however a s i always knew it was comming and i feel releived that it is finally out in the open. i am not a bad person (although many will dissagree) I am a stupid person who has been too fearful of trying to sort this out as i have always believed i would go to jail and lose my children. I have never been away from them . Any more advise would be welcomed as I really feel like im on my own.Sorry for my rambling but as i said before i have not slept and cannot eat for fear of what is going to happen to me. Anyone else out there reading this and in any situation like this please own up before you end up like me ,I am not a strong person and I am paying the price for this, try and get strength from somewhere to help yourself.

Hi.thanks for your reply. I have spent the whole evening in tears as I am terrified that I will go to prison, lose my children and home. I know and want to tell the truth but I dont know where to start. I know that whatever happens is my own fault but as I have already said i didnt know how to stop once i had started. I have spent all day looking to see what will happen to me and i know whoever deals with my case will not treat it lightly as our joint income is so high they will see no excuse for my actions. I am so scared of what will happen to me and my family, best case senario is that they fine us and make us pay back what we have been paid but i dont think that will happen due to my partners income. I cant believe my stupidity and fear has led to this. I am trying to find a solicitor who has dealt with this kind of thing as i know we are going to need one. I am so frightened I will go to prison and my partner will lose his job but mostly I am worried about my children as one way or another i have ruined their lives. I am so ashamed and want so badly to fix this.

The moment has finally come when I have been investigated by the tax credit office for overpayments. Firtly let me say that I know I have done wrong but it is really easy to get yourself in a terrible situation by not having the courage to sort this out before it gets out of hand. I make no excuse other than I hoped that I could make it go away itself. I started claiming tax credits with my partner for my two children from a previous relationship and our new son. We had just moved into our first house (with mortgage) and we recieved tax credits all above board in 2003. The first two years were fine and our circumstances remained the same however by the third year my partner was promoted and therefore recieved a wage rise, also at this time he was ordered to pay £450 per month to the CSA for his first daughter, as his wage rise would in no way cover this amount if we were to have a significant drop in tax credits at this time we would not have been able to manage.I know this sound ridiculous to some people but I panicked as I did not know how we would afford school uniforms and suchlike. My intentions were to recieve tax credits to see us by in the short term and then confess and hopefully pay it all back when we were on our feet. Unfortunatley we never seemed to get there and so I hvae been claiming ever since. Every year I have redone my claim over the phone and I have always raised his wage ammount so as to lessen the amount of tax credit paid I have always wanted to confess and try and sort this out but my partner tells me to keep raising his wage until we no longer qualify and hopefully no one would find out. This sounds terrible and I am very ashamed that I have let things get this far, I also realise the depth of what I have done and the amount involved (roughly £15.000 ) I also know that my partner earns so much now that they will look at us as if we are extremely greedy people, which in anyones eyes we are. My partner has also accumulated so much credit card and loan debts that i relied on the tax credit money to buy clothing and stuff for my children Anyway the letter I recieved this morning says that I am being asked about our joint income for the year to April 2010, I am assuming that when we let them know our correct income (which they have listed on the letter along with the fake income i gave them) and admit to giving false information that they will then check all our years of claiming?? Does anyone know the answer to this ? What will happen to me ? What should I do now?