Hi Dax Sorry for the delay - it took me a little while to unravel the detail in both messages. First of all - forget the information regarding a time limit on appeals you found on the website. This is an area where people often get confused. There is no right of appeal against an overpayment - you must dispute it. Before you start to panic this a good thing as while there is a 30 day limit on appeals , there is no time limit on disputes. You say that the response to your initial letter says you are still liable for the full amount. It sounds like, after investigation, it has been decided that you were not entitled to the amount you received, so will definately need to pay it back. Did the response letter state that if you were unhappy with the way it was handled you could complain? If so, it seems that the inital letter has been taken as the equivalent of the COP26 and you will need to pay it back. How long ago did you send the actual COP26? Sue

Hi Sorry to hear that I was right - it gives me no pleasure, believe you me. Your next step is to complete the COP26 leaflet to dispute the overpayment, but from experience your dispute doesn't look like being successful based on the facts you have given me as it seems the declaration wasn't done. And doing the declaration is a requirement of continuing entitlement into the new tax year. Also I'm afraid there isn't any point offering to pay back half of the overpayment, as in a joint claim you are both 'jointly and severaly' liable for the amount. Therefore you would need to arrange to pay it all back. If you can't contact your ex to try to make arrangements for paying some back too, I'm afraid the best you can hope for is a 12 month payment plan with the debt management department to pay it all back, but they are very amenable to this. Just tell them that is what you want - and that is what you will get. Sorry I can't give you better news Sue

Hi Dax You say you sent a letter disputing the overpayments and received a response to this letter. But you also stated that you have had no comment to the fact that you decided to dispute the o/p instead of appealing against it. Sorry but I'm a bit confused here - perhaps you could clarify. What did the response to your original letter disputing the overpayment, say? If you can let me know, I will be in a better position to offer some specific advice Sue

The whole overpayment thing is a little confusing isn't it. It's quite difficult to offer really specific advice because I don't know the full circumstances You really need to take some action though - just waiting for a breakdown may land you in hot water. My advice would be to dispute the overpayment, using the COP26 leaflet you have been sent stating all the reasons why you disagree that you should have to pay it back. A few things to remember when you are disputing an overpayment though 1. In a joint award both applicants are 'jointly and severally liable' This means that if there is an overpayment you are both liable for the debt. HMRC don't really care which one pays it back as long as it gets paid back. A bit like defaulting on a joint mortgage or loan, the banks don't care how it's paid or who paid it's paid by as long as it gets paid. So no point stating that as you didn't physically receive the money, or as you spent it on the family anyway you shouldn't have to pay it back 2. If your grounds for dispute are (as I think they may be) that you told HMRC of the household breakdown as soon as it happened but they failed to use that information - hence the overpayments, then you must try to be specific about dates. For example, if you separated 6th April and told them this the same day, but received a payment on 9th April, well that is just unfortunate because it is too late to stop the payment to the bank, however if you didn't tell them until 6th May and another payment was received in May, then the delay letting them know will be what caused the overpayment. Therefore a dispute will be rejected. If you told them 6th April, but they didn't process this until 8th May, then that is good grounds. Be specific with your dates. 3. Another possibility of how this occurred could be that you told them in time, and they finalised your award correctly based on the information held on their systems. Hence the May payment could have been a 'balancing' payment. However it is a requirement that a declaration of circumstances is done at the end of each tax year. If you did not do your renewal/declaration for the previous year, the payments in the new tax year will all be fully recoverable. As you separated in April it sounds most likely that both yourself and your ex didn't do the renewal/declaration for one reason or another. A lot of people think they don't need to in your circumstances because they are not claiming as a couple any more. Unfortunately that means an overpayment dispute is unlikely to succeed if this is what happened. It's quite a complex area, but in a nutshell, you need to remember that if you think you were overpaid by HMRC , completely their fault, and that it was reasonable to assume that you did not know you were being overpaid when you received the payments, then you have good grounds to dispute paying it back. But be specific with the grounds. I am surprised though that a debt recovery agency is being used by HMRC - they usually attempt to recover tax credit debt from their debt management department, however you must contact them and tell them you are going to dispute the overpayment, and discuss your options with them. They may be able to suspend overpayment recovery for a few weeks while you complete the form and they investigate it, or it may be that you have to set up some kind of payment plan with them while it is being investigated. Talk to them. You don't want to end up in court for the sake of a phone call And good luck

I think we are just talking about terminology here. There is no right of appeal against an overpayment - you must dispute it. You can appeal against awards though, if you feel they have been calulated incorrectly - that is a different matter. You might be able to guess who I work for. Please don't appeal an overpayment. Your appeal will be either rejected, or your dispute will be delayed while the right process is followed. Please make sure you dispute any overpayments using a COP26. If you follow the right process in the first place, you are more likely to get a good result. Mistakes have been made in the past, and where you have been paid too much through no fault of your own, and if that is the case you absolutely must dispute this. As the posting before me states, she was able to prove that, and was successful in not having to pay back her overpayment. There is no time limit when disputing an overpayment( there is a time limit with appeals), but you should do it as soon as you are aware that you have been overpaid for a certain tax year. But, please, if you are going to dispute an overpayment get a COP26 and follow the right process. Once again - good luck

Hi Regarding Tax Credit Overpayments, there is no right of appeal, so any appeal against it will be rejected for that very reason. It's a bit like going into Curry's and complaining because the loaf of bread you bought at Tesco wasn't fresh. No-one is disputing that it wasn't fresh, but you have to follow the correct process to get your money back ie go to Tesco's. I hope that doesn't sound too patronising, but there is a lot of confusion over this process, and I find that's a good way to remember it. You need to dispute the overpayment with a COP26. You can ring the helpline to get one. You need to detail as accurately as you can why you think you should not pay back the money. Remember, when you do this that HMRC contact centres have full records of all calls, which are also recorded. They will listen to every one if necessary. For example it is no use stating that on every call you made in 2004 you gave correct P60 information if it's not true. It can easily be checked. However....HMRC, although getting much much better, has made mistakes in the past and if you genuinely feel that you should not repay an overpayment as you did everything you were expected to, and any overpayment was not your fault, then of course you must dispute it. It is a relatively painless process and each case is judged on it's own merits. Get a COP26 - and good luck .

Thanks George. So, just to clarify, you don't think that I should need to write to the bank or court, and just deduct the amount from the schedule of charges, which I should take with me to the hearing? I Just want to make sure that I am doing things right. Don't want to give them any excuse to drag their feet more than they already are.

Hi all I've been using this site now for a few months, and have found it invaluable. I have followed all the steps and on 4th Jan 07 sent a reminder letter stating that if no response within 14 days I would proceed to the court stage. As expected there was no response and I sent my forms and cheque to the court on 29th Jan. This morning I received the notice of issue, and the claim was issued on 1st Feb and sent to LTSB 1st class post same day. It will be deemed served to the bank on 5th Feb and they have until 19th Feb to respond. That is all fine and as expected - however this morning I also received a letter from the bank - dated 30th Jan but postmarked 2nd Feb, oddly enough - telling me that while they do not agree with me or admit liability, they are crediting my account with £660 in the next few days and waiving further costs due to be debited on 9th Feb as a goodwill gesture because 'we might face that cost in dealing with your complaint if you took it any further' and referring me to the ombudsman if i am unhappy with this. Clearly I will be seeking the full amount - but my question is this - what action do I take regarding this money being credited to my account. Having researched the site, my feeling is that I need to write to LTSB saying that I accept this amount, however will continue to seek the full amount through the court, now including interest charges, and also send a copy of this to the court. Any advice on this would be great - I want to get it right first time