Please help I have been commiting tax credit fraud

[honeybee13]

Hello there. I think you should just ring and get this over with. You can't feel any worse than you do, and you might feel a bit better afterwards. As someone already said, you will look better if you don't just wait for them.

 

I think the compliance people are the ones to go for, because they will have your file. Have their letter in front of you so you can quote the reference.

 

Then come back and tell us how you got on. Good luck,

 

HB x

[honeybee13]

Hello again. Well, you only have the rest of this afternoon to decide and then I guess things will take their course. You've had a lot of advice here, has it helped at all?

 

Fwiw, I personally wouldn't lie and I wouldn't expect them not to uncover more if they start digging. If it were me, I'd try to gain some sort of credibility by co-operating.

 

My best, HB

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

In case it helps, here is what the HMRC website says about investigations. It does mention a possible reduction in any penalty for co-operating.

 

My best, HB

 

Types of fraud investigations

 

When the Tax Credit Office discovers a case of fraud they can:

 

• charge a financial penalty
  
• prosecute
  

There are two types of investigation they can use to deal with tax credit fraud:

 

• civil investigations
  
• criminal investigations
  

Civil investigations

 

The aim of a civil investigation is to get back any tax credits payments that have been falsely claimed through fraud, along with any interest. The Tax Credit Office will also charge a financial penalty. A civil investigation does not prosecute.

The Tax Credit Office will offer a person the chance to co-operate with them and tell them all the facts. This is known as making a full disclosure. To encourage someone to co-operate with them, they’ll consider lowering their penalty. The amount they’ll lower it by depends on why the penalty's being charged:

 

• if it's for giving wrong information they’ll reduce it by up to 50 per cent
  
• if it's for not telling them about a change in circumstances, the amount they’ll reduce it by depends on if it's the first time it's happened and the amounts involved
  

When the Tax Credit Office is sure the person responsible has told them all the facts about the fraud, they’ll work out how much the person has to pay.

Tax credit penalties

Criminal investigations

 

The Tax Credit Office tries to deal with tax credit fraud using civil investigations whenever possible. They’ll only use criminal investigations in very serious cases where:

 

• they want to send a strong message to stop other people from trying the same thing
  
• the person has acted in a way that makes a criminal investigation the only option
  

Serious cases include:

 

• organised tax credit fraud
  
• where false statements have been made
  
• where fake documents have been given to the Tax Credit Office
  
• where people claiming tax credit have hidden information from the Tax Credit Office or misled them on purpose
  
• where someone's carried out the same type of offence before
  
• where there's proof that Tax Credit Office staff have been assaulted or threatened
  
• where people have pretended to be their employees
  

More useful links

 

Learn more about reporting benefit theft on the Directgov website

 

More about crime, justice and the law on the Directgov website

HM Revenue & Customs criminal investigation policy

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[honeybee13]

Hello kwestbid and welcome to CAG.

 

I hope you'll have an answer to how this case went, but if you have other questions you'd like to ask here about your own problems, please start your own thread so you can have specific advice. I'm sure the guys will help you.

 

My best, HB