Tax Credit Overpayment

[lynzfa]

I Recieved A Letter This Morning To Say I Had Been Overpaid £558 In Tax Credit For Last Year And Was Told I Had To Pay It Back Or Go To Court.i Was Told That If You Had Told Them About Changes As They Happen You Do Not Have To Pay Back The Overpayments.is This True?and If It Is What Do I Do Next As I Cant Afford To Pay Back 558 Pounds

[danler]

This happened to a friend of mine in the second year of the tax credits. Because his wife was a temporary school teacher she had earn't more than she had estimated. He phones the Tax Credits office and asked if the money can be deducted from the current years tax credit. It meant that they didn't recieve any money for the next year but at least they didn't have to find any money.

[mackem]

We were told that we were overpaid three years ago even though we told them on the phone numerous times that things were wrong on the form but they still did not change any of the details on the forms when they were sent to our address. Then me and my wife filled in the tax forms and sent them off, my wife made a liitle more than the previous year and once again we received a letter from them stating that they overpaid us only when we spoke to them they could not give me a reason to why this had been decided, they have given us a form to appeal. They now state that we owe them 4500 to them but we have not recieved anything from them as we having been paying back our overpayments for so long. I have now just recieved the appeal form we wondered if anyone knows how to fill or word these forms.

[TAY]

When we had an overpayment we were able to repay using the following years credits, in fact they did this automatically.

If you are to receive anymore credits this year check to see if it will be coming out of this payment if not you should be able to request this. If you are not receiving any more then request a reasonable amount to repay per week this should not be a problem i believe it states this somewhere. You could always try an appeal if you think it may be wrong.

[mackem]

i have recieved an appeal form i was wondering if anyone knew how to word these so i would be sucessful in my appeal against the overpayments

[meagain]

You want to tell them that you had "good reason to believe the payments made to us were correct". If your award notices showed correct information, you are entitled to assume their information was correct, and thus that your payments were correct. You need to demonstrate due diligence, and this is best shown by:

 

* Letter or phonecall when information on the award notice is incorrect (shows you have checked it and followed it up)

* Letter or phonecall whenever circumstances changed (e.g. if you left work, you didn't wait a month before telling them).

 

See here for more.

[mackem]

Many thanks MEAGAIN your e-mail was a lot of help as we find this system terribly unfair and will make many families live on the poverty line. Your help is very grateful

[michee]

I have had problems with them on two different tax years due to my husband being in and out of work - both times it was because they had not updated my information.

 

Two times they stopped my money completely - when my husband was out of work - so you can imagine the financial hardship this caused as I have two young children. (I've just joined to look at reclaiming bank charges caused by this)

 

They do have a complaints number you can ring, I don't know it but you can request it, but it took me two days of constant ringing to get through - but when I did they resolved my complaints within days.

 

Don't know if that can help you or not, but I would try the complaints number.

 

Persistance is the key with the tax credits system, I rang every day without fail until they sent me some money.

[Kerrie78]

I actually telephoned this morning re an overpayment. We always give info to them at every possible stage, but because my husband is a driver and sometimes works more hours some weeks than others it is hard to give an exact figure to them.

We were overpaid in 03-04 tax year so they claimed that back. We were then overpaid again in 04-05 but this has been reclaimed too. Now for 05-06 they tell me they have overpaid us by £489.75. Can they claim this back aswell? Doesn't it had to be over a certain figure? I think that to be only £489 out on our actual wages was a damn good guess.

I am currently on maternity leave from work so our tax credit is slightly higher at the mo but they will leave us with nothing if they start clawing at it again because I haven't got a wage anymore.

[sweetstreetuk]

hi i appealed against their request to pay back overpayment and won £3500 in total it turns out that the computer had miss read my forms (which had been filled in correctly) it had down that me and hubby were working 74 hours a week between us and earning no wage!!! incidently 03/04 was the year of massive overpayments and i know of several people who won on appeal go for it, good luck, i don't know where you stand on claiming the charges that incurred as a result of them stopping your money go for the bank on that 1!!!

[Mairi]

I worked for this mob twice.1st time was as the system started. You wouldn't beleive how bad it was. Received letters from people that had 3 kids to support on £40 per week, then others that earned £50k a year and were getting full WTC. "Please help, my kids have been eating beans + toast for 2 months" or "please STOP All payments as I'm not entitled to them"

Shocking.

We were overpaid too, "you have received £1200 in overpayment" therefore you owe us £1500", WHAT???????

2nd time i worked there i lasted 2 weeks. Finished on the Friday, Monday morning i had a call to offer me promotion. Crazy...

[Stopthethieves]

I had a letter in March thanking me for informing them of a change of circumstances and that I had been overpaid by the tune of #1500 and they wanted to know how I was going to pay it back!!!

 

 

I have NEVER claimed WTC or any other benefit before and don't know what this was all about. I rang them and they said they would get back to me.

 

A month got a letter saying someonehad tried to fradulenty claim WTC in my name.

 

I don't trust the DWP at all.

 

Regards

[MICHFERGIE]

hi i appealed against their request to pay back overpayment and won £3500 in total it turns out that the computer had miss read my forms (which had been filled in correctly) it had down that me and hubby were working 74 hours a week between us and earning no wage!!! incidently 03/04 was the year of massive overpayments and i know of several people who won on appeal go for it, good luck, i don't know where you stand on claiming the charges that incurred as a result of them stopping your money go for the bank on that 1!!!

 

 

I too have the same problem the computer has done the same with my form, I have therefore asked them to send me the form I am taking this all the way my amount is £6400, i AM AWAITING THE FORM AND THEN SEEKING LEGAL ADVICE any other advice would be appreciated

[alibobsy]

 

I don't trust the DWP at all.

 

Sorry to be picky but as someone who has worked for the DWP I have to point out that tax credits are inland revenue not DWP. I can tell you we have just as many problems getting through to the call centre and getting the info we need about tax credits to process someones other benefits. Having spoken to staff who transferred across to IR and from training officers who have transferred back into the DWP the big problem they have is most of the staff are undertrained. We were taught how to manually calculate someones benefit then put that on the computer system. This meant you understood exactly how the payments were calculated and could spot any problems with system calculations. Unfortunately the current moves on training in all departments seems to be just to be given enough training how to process a claim on the system nothing more. The trouble is this can lead to a "computer says no" mentality.

As all big companies the DWP and IR are subject to the data protection act so just like the banks you could ask for all your information relating to the calculation of you tax credits. I don't know if they would refuse to do it now but we used to do manual calculations to confirm someones rate of pension if they requested it. Might see if I can find out how the calculations for tax credits are actually done, I'm convinced mine isn't right, haven't been paid for nearly 2 years cos of "overpayments" even tho we have always informed them of any changes.

good luck

ali

[MICHFERGIE]

Sorry I do not understand what you mean

[mariep1208]

tax credit overpayment

 

 

Please visit this site. A group of us have banded together to offer advice and support to others who have been poorly treated. We have regional contacts and we plan to take action against this unfair system. Please sign the petition when you visit, there's power in numbers.

 

We are currently in the process of speaking to a solicitor regarding a pro-bono case. Get in touch and together we can make a change!!

[Guest S J]

An interesting site...out of curiosity what has been the initial advice on the propsects of success with the Art 6 claim in Judicial Review...from the lawyers???

I ask becasue I have previously considered the same provisions and found that Art 6 may not be interpreted or applied so widely as to help in this matter. The real issue appears to be the Tax Credit legislation making no provisions for claiming official error by those overpaid. Art 7 may not be construed so widely as to apply outside of criminal matters....

 

Is there a chance with a claim for Judicial review???

[lynzfa]

i have recieved a letter from the debt collections section of the inland revenue for the tax credits i had supposedly been overpid to say someone will be coming to see me on friday.it has now gone from 588 to £988 of overpayments.I rang the tax credits again and they said i was overpaid as when i informed them about my changes as they happened they continued with the original claim and also paid me for the new claim.How they managed that i have no idea as i apparantly had been overpaid £567 in one week dont think so i dont remeber recieving anything like that.I would of had a good week then if i had but i know i didnt.I will be filling in the appeal form so its fingers crossed for now to see what happens

[Kerrie78]

Thanks awful Lynzfa. I hope you suceed in your appeal but they have toughened the guidelines. I read yesterday that out of 30,000 appeals only 100 people were successful so it doesn't bode well for us I'm afraid.

 

My claim has become more muddled now aswell, because last November I went on maternity leave. I was getting £108.60 per week as maternity pay up until May 06 when it ended. From then til now I have received no pay from work as i am classed as being on unpaid maternity leave.

When I phoned the tax credits peeps in Nov I was told that my award would be increased because they disregard the first £100 of maternity pay. Great I thought. My tax credits went up to £82 per week and have remained at that figure.

Now they have asked for the actual figure on my p60 and because it says I earned over £6000 they will say I have been paid too much. I actually earned a lot less than that because of the maternity pay figure - which they are supposed to disregard.

[lynzfa]

i have recieved another letter yesterday about my tax credit overpayment which im guessing means i did not win the appeal.they have said i have until the 22nd november to pay the 988 in full or i will be took to court. i dont have that sort of money to pay in full.what can i do.

[mariep1208]

hi Marie

I'm not at all surprised that you have no faith in their 'investigation'. I don't have any either, and the more cases I hear the less I have. that little phrase 'no right of appeal' is very scary isn't it. what it actually means is that you have no right to 'dispute' that you were overpaid. they are judge and jury on this, and will have rechecked the last figures they used for your income and confirmed that you were overpaid. therefore, in their eyes, there is nothing to appeal against!!

most of us are what they call, 'disputing recovery of the overpayment'. and I, like you most likely, dispute it on the grounds that we could not of known it was wrong! between supplying all info required and their incompetent practice I had no idea what the hell was going on. I had so many awards notices saying different things they just started telling me to ignore them! how's that for sound business practice! if you've not seen it yet, check out Alison's Ode to Tax Credit on my website. Alison is another TC victim who contacted me recently, she wrote the Ode the other day and sent it me. with great skill she details most of the issues involved in this farce.

if I have one piece of advice for you its this. DON'T PAY THEM A THING! I've been refusing to pay for 18 months now and I haven't been locked up or 'disappeared' yet ;-) just keep logging 'appeals of recovery'. they say you have to supply NEW info to get a re-appeal, so just add more detail. I found it very helpful to write my case out in letters received format. I've attached it for you to see. 1) it makes an easy to follow history of what THEY did. 2) it helped me pick out even more mistakes they had made. 3) it makes a simple document to send to ombudsman's, mp's etc and 4) I was able to supply mine as new info for a new appeal. it won't win my case because they have already decided "I could reasonable be expected to know something was wrong" apparently. but it ties them up with the appeal process until we can get some real justice.

they have been directly threatening me with legal action for over 6 months now. but I don't even have so much as a court date yet. hopefully you are not relying on a current award. but even if you are, they are not supposed to deduct overpayments from this until the entire appeal process is completed. if, like me, you no longer claim TC's then you are in a stronger position. cancel any direct debits to them and refuse an attachment on earnings. (where they apply to you to have the money deducted straight from your wages) I have advised several people to do this who were disputing recovery. and they have only received an additional couple of extra random letters.

so far noone has been taken to court about overpayments (there have only been court cases that clearly involved fraud, not overpayments) so please don't be scared that they can strong arm you. I had a Inland Revenue guy turn up on my doorstep unannounced the other day. he wanted to discuss 'when I would be making repayments' but I was forewarned about this new tactic of theirs. I just refused to talk to him or let him in. they have no right of entry in these cases and are only doing it to try and scare people.

we need to delay them and their strategies until we can get enough attention on this. latest figures are 2 million families are suffering because of this so called top up to lift people out of poverty. they knew the system was inherently flawed when they rolled it out, they knew it would result in massive overpayments, but they expected to just demand it all back again at the end of the tax year! or in my case, it was 2 years later when they noticed. yet they still think they can give out money, saying we are entitled to it and can spend it, but we can just stump it up when they suddenly decide they got their facts wrong.

the only justice in the situation would be an amnesty on all the recoveries caused by their terrible system.

you are more than welcome to join the growing gang of us. who are getting their heads together to work out exactly how we can achieve this.

 

This is a great piece of advice from a stalwart campaigner for justice. See my earlier posts for the website address which is full of great advice.

[dori2o]

i have recieved another letter yesterday about my tax credit overpayment which im guessing means i did not win the appeal.they have said i have until the 22nd november to pay the 988 in full or i will be took to court. i dont have that sort of money to pay in full.what can i do.

 

The best and esiest thing to do is call them, and ask for a braekdown of the overpayment. Then also advise you would like to arrange a Time To Pay (TTP) arrangement. They will not refuse this.

 

The Inland Revenue are actually quite fair when it comes to arranging these TTP agreements, however, you must ensure that it is an amount you can pay.

 

If you dispute the underpayment as you feel you did inform them of the changes in the required timescale, and within the required limits, send them a SAR, which includes a request for any notes on the record, and also the dates and times of contact.

 

If from these notes you can prove that you did in fact inform them correctly, then you will be able to appeal under the provision that the Revenue/TC System had overcalculated your entitlement.

 

Unlike has been mentioned before, there are actually loads of people who have appealed these overpayments and have had them remitted.

[meagain]

If from these notes you can prove that you did in fact inform them correctly, then you will be able to appeal under the provision that the Revenue/TC System had overcalculated your entitlement.

 

Precisely. If you've kept them informed, and your award notices match your circumstances, you have every reason to believe your payments were correct. If despite this they were not correct, then the overpayment is clearly not your fault, and your appeal should succeed.

[lynzfa]

i recieved court papers this morning from northampton court.the inland revenue are taking me to court for the overpayment.it is now £1008.17 including court costs.i dont know what to do now.i cant afford to pay this and it wasnt my mistake in the first place

[meagain]

At this point, you might need professional help. At the very least, the first thing that comes to my mind is asking for disclosure, and defending on the basis that they missed some important information, but I dare not say any more than this for fear of forming some coherent advice.

 

Make sure that if pressed you can at least produce the paperwork you would need - award notices, copies of letters you have sent (or at least when they were sent - may have been up to a month before they were processed at HMRC), dates of telephone calls. If you don't have these, again, ask for disclosure of these from your record notes (referred to internally as "Household Notes").

 

According to the papers, how long do you have to reply?