Tax Credits Review regarding income details, so so scared

[Maryj]

Hi hope your ok! I don't really want to advice you either way as I'm in a diff situation with tax credits. I think it's good you went to see your GP as your health is more important!

 

I contacted citezens advice an waiting for them to call me back to hopefully get an app. Perhaps you should give them a call as I know they deal with a lot if tax credits issues!

[katsayce]

Unfortunately it sounds like your gp missed the point as many do! If you do not feel he/she gave you proper advise please do take yourself to a&e and ask for the mental health team they really can help. Also you can contact mind.co.uk who can offer brill advice and reassurance. I dont think you are in any state to be handling tax credits alone and an advocate can act on your behalf. Again mind can offer advice on local advocacy services

[katsayce]

Sorry wrong url its http://www.mind.org.uk please take a look x

[Gemy]

Hi, im in exactly the same position as u, wrong income didnt know i had to declare husbands car etc... i got the letter late november and like u was worried sick, i phoned them the next day and told them that the figures they had were right and i was wrong...the woman n the phone said she would pass it on and not worry..anyway, i thought abit about the figures they had and i asked husbands company to send me the amounts for the fuel benefit/car benefit etc...she sent me the form they send off to the hmrc ever year to declare this...and on reading it, the tax credit hmrc are near on 2000 pound out each year (they are going back 2009/2010 and 2010/2011) so im waiting to hear what they come back with before i write to appeal they have the wrong figures aswell, to top it off my hubby got some letter through the other day about his tax, the hmrc have gotten his amounts for fuel etc wrong an now hes having to go on a higher tax bracket to pay back 2000 odd pound, so not only are they going to sting me roughly 9000 tax credit over payment also we are going to pay back nearly 2000 back in tax from my husbands wages......i cant see how the same place who get sent forms each year with the correct figures on them get so much stuff wrong..anyway all im saying is check that they have the right amounts etc before telling them anything. plus i still havent heard back from the compliance team about all of this, so nearly 3 months on and im none the wiser, as someone said before u are not alone in this mess, there is plenty of people in the same boat.

[sososcared]

Hi hope your ok! I don't really want to advice you either way as I'm in a diff situation with tax credits. I think it's good you went to see your GP as your health is more important!

 

I contacted citezens advice an waiting for them to call me back to hopefully get an app. Perhaps you should give them a call as I know they deal with a lot if tax credits issues!

 

Did you speak to CAB yet? What did they say? I keep having 3 options running through my head at the moment - Call CAB, send letter to TC or wait for TC to ask for info or just change the award they know is wrong?

[sososcared]

Hi, im in exactly the same position as u, wrong income didnt know i had to declare husbands car etc... i got the letter late november and like u was worried sick, i phoned them the next day and told them that the figures they had were right and i was wrong...the woman n the phone said she would pass it on and not worry..anyway, i thought abit about the figures they had and i asked husbands company to send me the amounts for the fuel benefit/car benefit etc...she sent me the form they send off to the hmrc ever year to declare this...and on reading it, the tax credit hmrc are near on 2000 pound out each year (they are going back 2009/2010 and 2010/2011) so im waiting to hear what they come back with before i write to appeal they have the wrong figures aswell, to top it off my hubby got some letter through the other day about his tax, the hmrc have gotten his amounts for fuel etc wrong an now hes having to go on a higher tax bracket to pay back 2000 odd pound, so not only are they going to sting me roughly 9000 tax credit over payment also we are going to pay back nearly 2000 back in tax from my husbands wages......i cant see how the same place who get sent forms each year with the correct figures on them get so much stuff wrong..anyway all im saying is check that they have the right amounts etc before telling them anything. plus i still havent heard back from the compliance team about all of this, so nearly 3 months on and im none the wiser, as someone said before u are not alone in this mess, there is plenty of people in the same boat.

Oh, you poor thing. I do feel a little better knowing I'm not alone (although would much prefer none of us to be in a mess). Just kinda wish someone would just say - do this or that/ I did what you did and this happened...

[sososcared]

Sorry wrong url its http://www.mind.org.uk please take a look x

 

Thanks katsayce - will take a look x

[Maryj]

Hi no I havnt heard back from tax credits although they did say it could take up to 48 hours. I'm not a tax credits expert and don't really know how they operate in different situations! I owe them a lot of money so it's not good for me although I have not been charged a penalty (that I know of) my circumstances are diff in that there are certain things I do not have evidence to prove wheras yours is only about income details which I think is a common thing people make mistakes with.

 

I would contact can as it might help to talk it through with someone face to face who has experience in dealing with it. Some advisors can even advocate on your behalf to talk to tax credits if you feel you can't. Cab are confidential anyway so worth calling them and it may put your mind at ease a bit!

[sososcared]

So so tired, got fuzzy head. Call cab later. Want it to all end.

[jadeybags]

So so tired, got fuzzy head. Call cab later. Want it to all end.

 

Good idea. They have heard it all a thousand times over & will hopefully be able to put your mind at rest a bit. Be careful, if you go out I mean, if you drive. That fuzzy head is awful. When I went to CAB at the time I literally parked the car & walked to CAB, didn't even cross my mind to go to the machine & buy a ticket, came back & had a parking ticket on the windscreen. 60 pounds fine. Your head is just completely somewhere else.

Let us know what they say.

[kgrant]

i had the same letter just before christmas and i panicked too , it was my fault i had worked my husbands pay out wrong for last year, i rang the number on the letter but no-one ever answered so i sent them a letter saying that yes the info they had was correct and that i had made a huge cock up, ive been panicking for the last few weeks thinking i was going to have no money , then yesterday when my CTC went in it was slightly reduced and then i recieved an amended award notice. basically saying that i wasnt due any tax credits but they would pay me x amount till april them my payment would be x amount and that i would owe them £1200 which would be taken off over the next years award it works out about 25% of my weekly payment , which yes is a big loss but know where near as bad as i was imagining

[sososcared]

Thank you kgrant, I've been advised to only send further info if requested. Not sure how I feel about it tho as surely they will look back at previous years if last years is wrong???

[ErikaPNP]

Sososcared - I had thought you agreed with their calculation but if there are other years involved that are not on that letter, then you do need to declare that. If you don't and they find out later,(and they will eventually via their data scans) they will take a more serious stance on the fact that you are now aware and should have declared the previous years when given the opportunity.

[katsayce]

Hello again Sososcared,

 

Take a deep breath and start again. From my understanding your award has been "selected for review" as they have information from your 2011 award that is different from the income you declared? I understand that you are worried that you now realise the last 3 years has been incorrect, but that the HMRC has not yet asked about these 3 years. As ErikaPNP rightly pointed out you only have to declare what has been requested, but they are giving you an opportunity to put things right - they know what your actual income was, and will know for the last 3 years as I found out when my award was selected for review as they receive the info direct from employers at the end of the tax year - it is only when they chose to investigate a claim that they look back to check their figures. As they have only asked about 2011 you only have to answer to 2011, HOWEVER they will look back once a case has been opened and if you choose not to volunteer info now they may enforce harsher penalties.

 

As I have stated before, I really do not think you are in the right frame of mind to be dealing with this alone and an advocate will be able to deal with the HMRC on your behalf. From your original posting you said that you were given until 20th Jan to respond - that gives you 1 day to at least contact them via the phone and let them know that you are seeking an advocate; this will count as contact and they will give you more time. If you do nothing and do not contact them the problem will not go away and will only make your mental health more fragile with worry.

 

You said previously that you "have gone through everything and made a list of my working out to show them how I came to the figures I did. Its amazing the amount of paperwork I had around the house, P60s everywhere - old handbags, carrier bag lodged in the back of a cupboard etc. Think its time to seriously sort this out and get a file or something. I just put stuff somewhere thinking, 'I'll do that at the weekend/next week - and never get to it". It does not seem that you have done anything with the info, you MUST PHONE THEM TODAY and let them know you need more time to find yourself an advocate. After that phone call, please contact Mind if you have not done so already and you will be glad that you did.

[sososcared]

Thanks guys. Will call them and let them know a letter is on its way and send my letter to them. That way its done and won't have to wait to find advocate.

[sososcared]

Guys!!! I did it - I called them, broke down but nice person on phone was really nice and calmed me down. Said he would pass on the info, to stop the panicing as I had done the right thing and my award would be amended for 2011/12 and the person on my case would contact me.

Only called them to say they would hear from me by letter or advocate (change my mind on way home :-/). just seemed like - I'd got that far so just say it! Got to say, still s****** myself but at least I have made a step in the right direction. It's going to be a long road but at least I'm starting to go in the right direction (at the moment anyway). Will never not check, double check and get a friend to check again. it just isn't worth it!

I know I would not have made it this far without this forum and can't thank you all enough. I will keep you updated of the progress of my case. xx

[honeybee13]

That's brilliant, I'm proud of you! And you should be too.

 

Please let us know how it progresses, we're always here.

 

HB x

[jadeybags]

Brilliant, there ya go, those people have heard it all before & worse, the worst that will happens is having to pay it back!

I spoke to tax credits again today & the guy was saying it's always best to over estimate your earnings to avoid over payments, better to over estimate then they'll give you more next year (I hope) they have based my award on less than I am earning, as I dropped my hours in sept last yr & I get about 10 quid less a week tax credits than I should be, but apparently they add it on next year. Unless I let them know the right earnings now, but I am worried i'll get it wrong & owe them, so going to leave it.

[ErikaPNP]

I bet you feel a huge sense of relief, well done.

[sososcared]

I do feel a little better thank you ErikaPNP. Have had a letter today acknowledging that I agree with their details and they will amend my award accordingly... Just got to wait to see what that is going to be... Looking for a second job now to try and get to a point of not needing TCs at all but be able to pay back what I owe. Chances?! Not much!! Will keep updating as and when I hear anything xx

[sososcared]

Not heard anything else yet...

[jadeybags]

I do feel a little better thank you ErikaPNP. Have had a letter today acknowledging that I agree with their details and they will amend my award accordingly... Just got to wait to see what that is going to be... Looking for a second job now to try and get to a point of not needing TCs at all but be able to pay back what I owe. Chances?! Not much!! Will keep updating as and when I hear anything xx

 

You have my sympathies, I did that to avoid claiming housing benefit after the nightmare I had with them, I owe about a grand on a credit card now after a year, but no arrears with rent & considering all things, that isn't bad I guess & I sleep better! x

[thecornflake]

I had one of these at the beginning of the week, it's pretty bad though. They never acted when I told them I had restarted work a couple of years ago so they assumed I was on benefits for the last 2 years. They've overpaid over £10,000. It was our fault for not noticing they were using benefits income (although the previous years income was listed below this in the same column and at a glance we saw that and it looked ok to us. Basically we didn't check thoroughly enough and they didn't make the change we told them about.

 

I honestly don't know why they can't just look up the information on income that they already have because 1) they use it for the review and 2) they are claiming back tax from me I didn't pay for a taxable benefit last year (due to my company making a mistake).So they have the information on our earnings already there then waste time and paper asking me to tell them it each year.

 

Anyway I'm abotu to call and explain it. At the best though we'll be £143 per WEEK worse off because we no longer qualify for any of the tax credits, and we'll have to pay it back somehow, and the tax repayment this year is £200/month and a possibly penalty.

 

It's so annoying because I've just got back on track after having years of not managing financially. But as it's at least half my fault I have to deal with it....

[thecornflake]

P.S. sorry for hijacking your thread - I've started a new one now

Edited February 10, 2012 by thecornflake

[Holliepop2010]

What penilties did you receive and how long did you get to pay them ? SE