please someone help me

[honey5]

where do i go what do i do? this has got me ill

i recieved a letter from HMRC yesterday saying they are looking into my CTC the thing is there is an over payment, i m a single mum with 3 children two were on DLA the daughters ended and i rang them (they have no recollection of this tho)

this year when the renewal came thru i just signed and sent it back, there were no changes to my circumstances so i didnt check it (more fool me) id just lost my grandmother then 5 weeks later my mum and head wasnt working right unfortunately,

ill have to pay it back obviously and realise i was at fault but what will they do, will it have to be paid in one go (as i dont have it) will they stop any tax credits (we wont be able to live and will end up having to sell the house so i can feed the kids) im just so lost honestly ive never been thru anything like this before in my life

this letter is dated the 21st nov 2007 but they want the info bank statements mortgage statement phone bills all house hold bills et sent too them by jan 5th 2007

thanks in advance

 

 

honey x

[GlasweJen]

I have absolutely no knowledge of tax credits or the fiasco sorrounding them. I do know enough to know that having to consider selling the house (presumably with nowhere else to go) to feed your 3 kids 2 of whom are disabled is not right and you should immediately contact your local CAB as well as welfare rights.

 

I'm sure someone who has been through the tax credits before will be along to advise further.

 

You mention your daughers DLA ended, is she still disabled? If so why was the award taken away and have you appealed/reapplied?

[honey5]

thankyou for you reply im totally distraught

 

x

[Goldlady]

Honey if you are on full tax credit they can only reduce your award by a maximum of 10% to reclaim overpayments.

[Goldlady]

How are you at fault if you told them of the change? Stick to your guns about this.

[honey5]

the twins were born at 24 weeks and spent the first 6 months in hospital before they came home, there after they were, if not one both in every other week for the next 4 yrs with various problems, my daughter has been least affected but has chronic lung disease and a global developmental delay but due to her ability to learn, didnt get her DLA renewed after 10 yrs of recieving it, yes i wrote to them too appeal but never heard anything back at all, her brother on the other hand is autistic due to prematurity and has multiple problems

[honey5]

my tax credits have been £14414.05 a year since their dad/my husband left, its just such a mess and i only work two nights in a hospital and cant do this on my own

[Conniff]

i m a single mum with 3 children two were on DLA the daughters ended and i rang them (they have no recollection of this tho)

 

If you rang and told them of a change, then this in the Financial Mail today (Sun 25/11) may be of interest.

 

My wife and I were allegedly overpaid child tax credits and face demands to repay over £500. We appealed saying that I had kept Revenue & Customs informed of changes in our circumstances. I used the Freedom of Information Act to request a copy of recording the Revenue had made of my phone calls - it sent me a cd.

 

(Abridged version of the reply)

But here's a funny thing. The CD you were sent held recordings of three calls from you advising tax staff of changes to your income. Yet officials told me: "There were seven calls requested altogether, six of which were traced and one unfortunately not."

So what was in those missing conversations? Were they calls from you telling the Revenue your income had risen?

The Revenue has been unable to offer an answer, so I think you should appeal to the Adjudicator - the ombudsman who investigates tax complaints.

 

_____________

 

Not sure if it is of any assistance to you Honey, but if you did tell them about a change and they say they know nothing about it then use the Freedom of Information Act as the above reader did and get a copy of your calls.

You can then do as advised as well and appeal to the ombudsman.

[honey5]

thankyou my heads all over the place right now, this is an awful situation to be in really it is and i wasnt sure where else to go really with it being a weekend, ive done nothing but be sick literally since the letter arrived yesterday, but if they leave us with nothing ill have to claim bankrupcy as cant aford on my wages the mortgage or anything else for that matter

thanks again x

[Conniff]

Your not on your own with this Honey, probably half the people receiving credits have had a letter like this at some time.

As Goldlady says - they can only take £10 out of every £100 you receive to take back the overpayment, that is if they have overpaid you.

 

Write to them and challenge it.

[honey5]

thing is they have and i know they have as theyre still including my daughters DLA which she no longer recieves, my fault shouldve checked and re checked all of the papers and i didnt

[Conniff]

Don't blame yourself for all this. These are supposed to be professionals and yet they make error after error and never seem to learn, or is it never seem to care.

You must ring them in the morning and see what they can come up with and then post it up here.

[honey5]

i will do if i have the will to live by then

thankyou once again

its just such turmoil, and my birthday on tues too huh what a present eh?? never mind i have to do this no good sticking my head in the sand

thanks x

[Goldlady]

I used the Freedom of Information Act to request a copy of recording the Revenue had made of my phone calls - it sent me a cd. (only the one?)

 

Honey I am confused. Was the DLA paid with the tax credit money? I would have thought if her DLA was stopped you would get more tax credit and not less.

 

Anyway please don't panic - they cannot ask you to pay it back in one go.

 

 

[Goldlady]

I had a tax credit investigation a couple of years ago - it was all done by post and a couple of telephone conversations and the girl who dealt with it was lovely. I had overclaimed (through a misunderstanding not because I was doing anything fraudulent) but I had no problem with them at all.

[honey5]

no the DLA for the two were paid seperate to the child tax credit and hers stopped whilst his continued?

please dont tell me this is another cock up, it came from the DLA office although i did inform the child tax credit office at the time that they both were recieving it

the child tax credits went up because they did recieve was that not right too? please dont say yes this is bad enough to get my head around

x

[Goldlady]

I don't know enough about DLA Honey, but if you do get more child tax credit because of the DLA then surely if you lose one of the DLA payments, whilst you might lose the extra bit of the child tax credit, your overall family income has gone down so this should be made up by increasing your tax credit. I may be wrong but I hope I'm not:p

[honey5]

i just dunno whats going on my OH used to fill everything in before he left, and i rang them to complain that the money they were throwing at me wasnt mine as it went from £40 a month when he was here to £1000 and whatever, oh hell this isnt making me feel any better lol

thanks tho x

[Goldlady]

From the Inland Revenue website

 

 

Recovery of overpayments of tax credits from other payments of tax credit

 

Tax Credits (Payment by the Board) Regulations 2002 Regulation 12A

 

Where the Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs intends to recover an overpayment of tax credit from other payments of tax credit the following maximum rates of recovery apply:

• where the only amount of tax credit to which the person is, or, in the case of a joint claim, the persons are, entitled, is the family element of child tax credit, 100% of that tax credit
  
• where the total amount of tax credit to which the person is, or, in the case of a joint claim, the persons are, entitled is not subject to reduction—

• because they are in receipt of a social security benefit (section 7(2) of the Tax Credits Act 2002); or
  
• because their income for the relevant year does not exceed the relevant income threshold prescribed in his or their case in regulation 3 of the Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Regulations 2002;

10% of that tax credit; and

• in any other case, 25% of the tax credit to which the person is, or in the case of a joint claim, the persons are, entitled to

Hope this helps

[honey5]

no im hopeless i dont understand any of it, ok i informed the DLA that we recieved tax credits, they said it had nothing to do with tax credits, informed tax credits that we recieved DLA they said well your tax credits will go up??

please help me here

im tax credit challenged obviously

x

[honey5]

Goldlady i did try to pm you as noticed your location i must be ten mins down the road from you lol but your pm box was full!!

[Goldlady]

I have had a look at the tax credit information and you do get an extra £2440 per year if you have a child with a disability. I didn't know that. But you must stick to your guns that you told them. How many award notices have you had in the last year? I successfully argued against an overpayment a few years ago because I had received so many notices I had totally lost the plot and there was no way I could have known I had been overpaid. And I am an accountant:confused:.

[honey5]

ive only had the one then this letter yesterday asking for all bills bank account details mortgage p60 etc

[honey5]

i dont claim my discount on council tax as thought that after the tax credits i wouldnt recieve anything, nor housing benefit nor anything else at all only the little ones DLA and my tax credits but seems ive done it all the wrong way

[surprise]

You need to go and see a benefits adviser to make sure you are getting all the right benefits available for you. Our Neighbourhood Office as a specialist benefits adviser available, it may be worth you trying to see if your office has one.