Im seriously up the creek, Tax credit childcare fraud review! Please advise

[doopydoo]

Hi there, I am kinda in a similar situation although not to the extent as some.

 

I received a letter in January asking if my single claim was correct, i probably got this because I had just registered a new baby with tax credits. I left her dad in the Feb before and moved 130 miles I didn't find out i was pregnant until i had moved. I called tax credits and informed them my single claim was accurate and they never asked about childcare. My daughter started nursery in the feb, and initially i had booked her in for 5 days, with the deductions cost £104 per week. I declared through tax credits £97 per week. After a few weeks her dad said the would pick her up at lunchtime 1 day a week so my mum looked after her in the mornings. This reduced my childcare to £75.00 per week and £100+ when there were no vouchers. I never informed tax credits because i had already called them 6 times from the Jan with changes to my claim and figured the holidays would make up for the extra. I was working for an employer at the time but decided to go self employed with the job because it was costing a fortune in fuel, my car kept breaking and cost me £1600 in a few months. My fuel allowance was £50 per month and this money had to cover my phone calls too. Realistically I was paying £400 per month in fuel alone covering 2 counties. (But my employer only paid me for one month of my self employment and after that started to fob me off with excuses as to why he was not paying my invoices, i worked on a commission only basis). And I am still sending them emails today asking for my invoices to be paid.

 

My new baby was due in the October but I assumed she would come early as it seems to be a family trait. So i figured I would declare no childcare costs when I claimed for her too. My older daughter came out of childcare at the end of July. I took my mat early in the august after realising my employer would never pay me. I used my ctc and wtc initially for childcare fees and supporting my job, god only knows how we got through them months. My new baby however was late and did not arrive until the November and it took ages to register her and then do her child benefit (which i was told I didn't need for a second child until after) , I finally called tax credits in the Jan after getting it all sorted and added my new baby to the claim and to remove my childcare costs.

 

Ok, by this time I had still been claiming for childcare for 6 months which meant I had been overpaid about 2k. I informed them my daughter had come out of nursery but I told them she had come out 8 weeks after she actually did. The person i spoke to at tc put on 4 weeks after they come out for some reason which meant i claimed for 12 weeks. They immediatley adjusted my claim as I knew they would and took 1k off which meant my payments reduced by £60 per week. I knew this would happen and if I had been honest when i called them my claim would have reduced by £120 per week leaving us £60 per week and of course 33 for child benefit and my mat pay. which totals to 870 per month. only my bills are £700 per month. so i needed the extra money just for basics.

 

I have been waiting until the end of the financial year to see if my old employer would pay me, and as i know he wont my earnings have reduced by £2500 which is a 28% decrease in the amount on my claim.

 

Anyway I didnt have receipts etc, so i asked my old childcare provider to provide me with invoices of dates and amounts paid and as i thought i have claimed about 1100 in extra childcare which i have sent off to the HMRC. I'm not too sure what they will do. Im hoping it will be ok because I think the amount I owe them will cancel out when i declare I have earnt less, but i needed to wait to see if i would be paid and in any case could have afforded to pay back the overpayment or not get into this situation in the first place had i not had a rooky employer.

[CDJ755]

Hello iminsuchamess and Retman

 

Just been reading thru your posts and im in same boat as you. I have overclaimed around £18K in childcare over an 18 month period and Ive sent in a letter of confession after my claim was selected for review. I sent the letter as Im too petrified to ring them.

 

I sent the letter 3 weeks ago and they STILL havnt suspended my childcare costs (i get paid weekly). Im in total limbo.

 

Im just wondering have either of you sent in a letter of confession yet or rang up to confess and have HMRC stopped your payments of childcare? Or have they even contacted you again?

 

I have my own thread on here already and will update my situation when it changes.

 

Thank you in advance.

[doopydoo]

Hi there, I posted a bit of info about my claim. To date I have sent off my childcare costs etc. Mid May I was sent my renewal through which I completed and sent back (it did say on the form this was also part of my review). I am still waiting to hear from them and as of yet there is no change to the amount they are paying me.

 

As sooon as I get a letter from them I will let all know what course of action they are taking etc!!!!

[doopydoo]

Yeah I got the review letter first, sent the info in and then about a week after the review letter my annual declaration came through, is that what happened with yours???

[melissa cromb]

Hi to 'iminsuchamess'

 

I recieved the same letter this morning and am rather worried about my tax credit award for the last financial year. I work full time, and have 2 young daughters and whilst my nursery fees were accurate, i failed to tell them that i withdrew my eldest child out of nursery for 6 months whilst looking after my second child (partly as I suffered with post natal depression and recovery from c-section was slower than anticipated)

 

Have you had an outcome yet regarding your overpayments/costs? Or heard anything at all since the letter from them? I am worried about affording any kind of overpayment with childcare being so expensive and would be really useful if you had any further information.

 

Reading through things on line it seems very common at the moment with the government cracking down on this kind of thing, so I can only assume that this will mean no criminal convictions, due to the number of people probably in this same situation.

[treadingwater]

hi i just read your post and im going through something similar, with a smaller overpayment. i was just wondering what has happened? im going to ring and tell them what ive done but would be good to know what your outcome was? thanks

[melissa cromb]

hi

i have not yet sent all my paperwork in as my deadline is 13th july to submit all the paperwork but am very worried about submitting it all

[doopydoo]

I have not heard anything as of yet. They gave me a deadline to submit my information by 8th May, they also sent me a reminder and a couple of weeks later my renewal came through. Not sure why its taken so long but I will update as soon as they write back. Also they said in the letter the information I need to submit would be returned to me once they were complete, and as of yet they have not sent anything. Really annoying!!!

[JL12345]

This happened to me and I sorted it out, it isn't as scary as you think. Firstly if your to frightened to phone, send a letter, its called a full disclosure, gather all your evidence and admit everything in your letter, mention that your to frightened to phone, explain all your circumstances and if possible include a letter from your GP to back you up, tell them you are anxious to sort out repayments and will cooperate fully with their investigation.

I did this, and a few days after I sent everything, recorded delivery, I received a phone call from the tax credits office and she asked me a few questions then that was it. I got a letter stating what was inaccurate about my claim and they'd amended everything. I personaly don't think they want to prosecute, I think they want to sort of clean the system up a bit. My overpayment wasnt that high though, but my advice is do not delay, im sure they've seen worse. Easy for me to say but I was panicing to.

[melissa cromb]

thank you for this and will definatley be taking your advice regarding writing. I do have gp letters that will back this up. How much were you overpaid?

[doopydoo]

Just thought I would give a bit of an update, I received a letter from the tax credits office to say they have now finalised my investigation and are happy with the information I provided. Don't owe them any money at all which is a relief. Just pleased its all over. I hope all of your cases get dealt with shortly!!!

[suchafool]

Hi,

I have never been on or actually had the need to join one of these forums but I read them alot and find them helpful in other matters so I wanted to try and share my problem and gain some advie as I am in much the same sitaution as you guys.

I have a 3 year old Daughter and am a Single P/T working Mum, I have had to change jobs twice in the last 2 years due to redundancy and managing to get a job with better hours. My Daughter goes to Nursery and is still going there. I have had a review letter in conjunction with my Claim renewal I have just made and I know that they have overpaid me on childcare by approx £2000 in the last year due to me not contacting them to amend the amount of days she is going after changing my job Last Year. I am terrified of what the outcome is, Luckily after begging and grovelling to my Parents yesterday they have agreed that any overpayment they will lend me the money to pay it back just to get rid of the debt but I am so frightened of what action HMRC will take against me, as, like all of you, My Daughter is everything and I could not possible Loose her.

I have compiled all the Receipts and copy of contract they have requested and am ready to post it to them but I am not sure if I should just phone and tell them I know about the overpayment and offer to just pay it, or attach a letter to the documents? what advice would you give?

I am not proud of myself, far from it, I am just struggling in these economic times like everyone else, there is just not enough help out there for people on low incomes and trying to make ends meet.

[Joanne1989]

Did anyone update the outcomes

[Kapcre]

Did anyone update the outcomes

 

Hi I came across these posts and thought my reply may be of help

 

I went through criminal charges from tax credits my situation wasn't correctly reported u will find it on google it destroyed my marriage in the end and destroyed my life for a long time.

 

The first time I realised I was being investigated was when officers turned up at my door to arrest me I had claimed as a single parent (which for the most part I was) I had marriage problems and seperated from my husband for months at a time as he had severe depression I paid his mother child care sometimes she wouldn't take it but for the most part she did in the end they charged me with 47k in wtc fraud this went on for years

 

I lost my job was told I stood a good chance going t prison for 3 years and I seperated from my husband for good

 

I had never been in trouble my whole life had a mortgage never claimed housing benefit I ended up having t agree t plead guilty t 2 counts of fraud of 20k and agree t take a cheque of 20k to court on the day of my trial

 

I was handcuffed and put in cells and my lawyer handed over the cheque t the revenue that day at court the judge wasn't so nice and she left the court room t make a decision on my liberty she came back and said as I had paid the 20k she would spare me a prison sentence

 

however I was tagged for a year had t be confined in my home until 8am and from 8pm for a year I also had to attend weekly meetings with a tag officer

 

my life was hell it effected my kids life's I was in all the papers and I ended up loosing my home every job I went for I lost or didn't get because I was now classed a criminal and had a record

 

this was years ago I never have never will get over it even now calling the tax credit office I have t deal with a seperate dept everything I claim gets checked by compliance

 

i feel I made a mistake I did my time I paid back the money but I will never escape from it all I can say is from someone who has been thru it just always keep your records and any change tell them within ur allocated 4 weeks as advised on the hmrc web site I wouldn't put my worst enemy thru what I went thru !

 

Hope this helps x

Edited November 20, 2012 by honeybee13
Putting in some spaciing for easier reading.