Thank you for your reply!! I have heard today that they have reduced the overpayment as have accepted that the Childcare issue was official error on their part and is therefore un-recoverable. PHEW!! My accountant has said that she will write me a statement to provide them with explaining that it was not income and can re-allocate the notional cost and effectively 'repay' it through the accounts this year to save the confusion occurring. This will all be at my cost though so I really want them to tell me whether that will fix things before I shell out to do it!! Laura

Ah thank you! I couldn't find my original post. Since then I have discussed the income shown on the WTC forms and they have removed it and placed noted on their system to say that the money was never taken and is not owed (if that makes sense) I also spoke to our accountants and asked them to explain the notional salary thing to me as my only information at that point had been from google. They said that we were not going to be taking that salary at all in that or future years as it was simply for business viability and as we hadn't declared it on tax return it was un-takeable.

Hello, I really hope someone can offer some advice. Our situation is quite complicated which is probably the reason that all this has occurred! I will try to be as concise as possible but would really appreciate some of the expert help you guys have to offer. I am an NHS student and in receipt of a student bursary My husband was made redundant in 2011 and struggled to find work so in May 2012 we started our own business as hoped to give it a go. For the year 2012/13 our business made a loss of £600 prior to us being able to draw any salary/dividends etc. There are 2 aspects to our overpayment which I am trying to figure out in my own head. I pay childcare costs for our children to attend nursery. [at the time the overpayment begun] I paid £240 a week to nursery and my childcare allowance from my bursary was £187/week. I emailed the council asking if it was possible for the difference between my bursary and the actual cost of childcare (£53/week) be considered when calculating my benefit (I have copies of this email). The person dealing with this questioned it with her superiors and eventually got back to me and told me that it could be. She said that it was really complex but between them they had figured it out and that the next letter I received would have the correct entitlement. I have recently received a letter stating that I have received an overpayment as the above should not have been done as our work was not classed as remunerative and therefore could not have childcare costs disregarded against it. I have spoken to the woman whom I originally dealt with (I also recorded this phone call) and she said that they (the people who processed it including her and one colleague and their senior) were unaware of the above rule and that it was probably their mistake. I have emails that I sent them during the correspondence about this stating that we were not taking any salary from the business so they definitely knew it was not remunerative. The second aspect is to do with something our accountant did with our company accounts which goes completely over my head, I will try and explain it as best I can... As I said ^^ in 2012/13 the company made a loss of £600 before any salary could be paid to us. The accountant advised us to account a notional cost of £5200, which is technically an example salary figure which would allow us to decide in a future year whether the company was viable or not. It would be reabsorbed in subsequent years. I phoned HB and asked whether this was anything that would affect our entitlement (as obviously we could not lose our HB when we wouldn't actually be receiving any money from the business). I was told by someone on the end of the phone that this was fine as didn't affect our household income. - Unfortunately I have no proof of this conversation as it was literally a brief phone call and when they dismissed it as insignificant I did not even think to follow it up in writing. I honestly can not even remember if they took my claim number or address to attribute notes to our claim. Originally they said that the overpayment had arisen as we had a salary from the business as above, I submitted an explanation and copies of our self assessment tax returns showing that we had received no income. They then explained that their issue was that we had submitted different figures to them in order to take advantage of HB and CTB and that we couldn't with one hand say that the company paid someone £5200 and with the other hand say we received nothing. I don't really understand this as the accountant explained that a notional salary was quite a common thing to do in a companies first year or two. Either way they are unhappy about it and feel that it equates to an overpayment for the entire year. I have spoken to our accountant and she said that she cant really see why it affects anything but that if there is no other way to rectify it that she can submit an amendment to the accounts for 2012/13 and remove the notional cost. I am so confused about this all. I feel that the childcare aspect was definitely their mistake and there is no way I could have been expected to know that I had received an overpayment. The notional cost thing is just baffling me, I do understand what they are saying but never considered it that way previously (partly because I was told by them that if it didn't affect income then it didn't matter-I doubt I can prove this). I am happy to get the accountant to amend the accounts as there was no benefit to us of having it there anyway but I don't know if this will make a difference. I am so sorry that this is such a long post but if anyone has managed to read to the end any advice would be appreciated. Also I have been to see the local benefits advice service, the woman was lovely and is looking into this for us at the moment but it struck me that she is a council employee so is this a conflict of interest, ie. would she really help me to sort this out as it is basically working against her employer, am I better trying to see CAB or someone else?? Many many thanks!!!

Good Evening all, I am new to this forum but wish I had found it years ago! Some fantastic advice on here... I will explain my situation and if anyone can offer any advice or help it would be much appreciated... Sorry its complex! I am an NHS student and receive a bursary while I am training. My husband and I started a business in April 2012 after he was made redundant about 6 months earlier and found it impossible to get any work. We have children whom we pay for childcare for. We are in receipt of HB CTB CTC and WTC. After the first year of business we just about broke even (£600 profit) before any salary could be taken for either of us. At a meeting with our accountant before she prepared our books she advised that one of us account a notional salary from the business. It was decided that £5200 would be accounted through the books for my husband. We were to receive nothing in cash as the company simply had no cash. This was basically to use some tax allowance for that financial year and the money would be drawn in a future year where the company was able to pay something but against the tax allowance for 2012/13. This appealed to both of us as we are hoping to get a mortgage after I qualify and it would mean that the books wouldn't be accounting one larger sum in a single year - instead it would be split over the books for two years. We decided that it seemed sensible but I said that I would have to check with HB, my bursary, tax creds etc first... as we wouldn't actually be getting any money from the business we could not afford for it to affect any bursary or benefit as we wouldn't be able to meet our outgoings. I phoned all relevant places and was advised by all that if we were receiving nothing in cash then it wouldn't affect anything. tax credits were the only place that advised that it would be accounted but said as it was below £6000 it wouldn't affect the amounts we received. Now fast forward to October 2013... I was asked to provide the profit and loss for the company 2012/13 which I did and they responded saying two things... That the profit and loss showed that I wasn't a director of the company - I am and have provided proof of this, only one director has to be named on the profit and loss That my husband received a salary of £5200 I disputed this and yet again told them that it was notional and that we did not receive any cash as the company was only £600 in profit. They then asked me for all tax credit award notices since 2012 - I have these and am taking them to be scanned on Monday but they show the notional salary of 5200. I am unsure of what they are trying to establish but have a horrible nagging feeling that the notional salary should have been used in calculations (simply because it is for tax credits). I know I have definitely discussed it with people in the processing centre but as it was brushed off as unimportant have never followed it up. Anyone any stance on this... as they are dating back to April 2012 they are wanting £7000 back???? Do HB record their calls as I feel this is probably the only way I can prove that I have discussed this. Laura