Tax credits compliance letter

[Fiona1039]

Need some advice feel like a criminal and so stupid! Phoned my tax credit renewal and then got a provisional award notice this was followed 3 days later by a letter from the compliance people!! Now this is where I have been stupid put in my husbands yearly earnings ( he is self employed ) then I never declared any earnings for mysel as I thought u had to be working for 12 hours to have to declare it ( I only work 11 a week ) now I realise am wrong can't beleive am so dumb! The letter says i did not declare any earnings but they see what I had earnt! Now it says I can leave it and they will then amend it and work out what am due and maybe a penalty or even court action if I have deliberately misled them!! Or I can call them and speak to them! I am so scared never had anything like this in my life before ? Will I go to jail or have to pay back the money ( or both ) please can someone give me some advice on wha to do I can't sleep , eat or function !!!! I feel disgusted in myself for making the mistake in the first place

[Fiona1039]

Am hoping someone can give me some advice am petrified

[Gbarbm]

Hi

Sorry you've not had a response before now.

I know its easy for me to say, but please don't panic!

Just respond to the compliance letter, just say you've taken advice and realise you have made an error in not declaring your income for the reason as you've stated on here.

Any underpayment of tax credits will be collected from a subsequent award.

[Fiona1039]

Hi thank you! I phoned them today and the lady I spoke to was very helpful and said I had to stop panicking and worrying!! I explained as I said above and she said she would now hand it back to the case worker! I asked her what would happen next and she said they would adjust the award and that we may have to pay back the overpayment ( thought it strange she said we may have to )!! She said we would have letters in the next 2 weeks ! Am hoping that this means no further action will be taken as she never mentioned anything else ? Would she have said if there would be ??

[Gbarbm]

Depends on the case worker I suppose; as I say, I think the most likely scenario (and HMRCs preferred option) will be to recover it from a subsequent award.

Just for your info, I owed them £1500 In 2003/04 (error with Childcare) and they have just taken it from my subsequent award.

The balance is now £88 and they are taking £1.50 a week off me...I'll be fully paid up by Feb 2013!

[Fiona1039]

Jings bet u will be glad when that is finally paid off! Feel much calmer today after phoning but won't feel 100% till have received all amended paperwork! Read some other cases on here and can say I know now exactly how they feel never been so worried in my life ( all cause I made a stupid mistake ) note to self; always check facts in future so no more mistakes! Thank you for taking the time to reply !!

[Gbarbm]

Yeah will be glad when it's finished; I did offer to pay the £88 in full but they said no, it's on the system now... Ah well I did offer

Glad you're feeling a bit better about it now

[Fiona1039]

Was wondering how long it takes for them to get ur award amended etc? Am still feeling unsettled and won't rest till this comes in!!

[Gbarbm]

It shouldn't take too long; I think mine took about 8/9 days in total

[Fiona1039]

Just keep waiting for more bad news !!!

[Gbarbm]

Well at least you'll know where you stand I suppose

[Fiona1039]

Having another day of stressing about all this! Was wondering if I should phone and ask if it has been dealt with! I am away on Saturday to visit family for a week and am dreading feeling like this all week ?

[Gbarbm]

I see no reason why you can't ring and progress check if you think it'll put your mind at rest.

[Fiona1039]

Think I will tomorrow ( it's only been four days since I called the compliance person ) was not sure if it would seem silly phoning so soon!!! Just stressing myself out that although in the phone call the lady told me not to worry that the award would be amended and my overpayment calculated , seems to simple , so keep expecting them to say they taking it further

[Fiona1039]

Update is still not had any amended award notice from tax credits and am still receiving my same payments!! I phones them last Friday and the call handler said it had been sanctioned to be amended , so how long does this take? This is ruining my life at the moment so worried

[Fiona1039]

Still heard nothing from tax credits and in all this time I am still being over paid!! How long does this take to get amended? Am really losing it now don't think u can take any more stress

[renegadeimp]

Why are you so worried? All that will happen is youll get a small deduction each week from the next award if you have to repay it. It's not like theyll demand thousands in one go.

[Fiona1039]

Why are you so worried? All that will happen is youll get a small deduction each week from the next award if you have to repay it. It's not like theyll demand thousands in one go.

 

It's the ongoing not knowing how much we owe or how much will be deducted or if we are entitled to anything at all anymore! Have phoned again today still nothing showing on the system they said that it has not been done yet! I did say that the longer it takes the more we owe is going to go up but they don't seem to interested!! Why is it taking so long I have given them the information they need they said but yet still not done ??

[Fiona1039]

Honestly so stressed been 4 weeks since I spoke to the compliance team and they said it would be amended !!

[renegadeimp]

If they have said, then it will happen. Its a government department and they take FOREVER to do anything.

 

If you are concerned, then call them back up but demand to be put through to a supervisor or manager. Not a min wage call centre lackey.

[Fiona1039]

If they have said, then it will happen. Its a government department and they take FOREVER to do anything.

 

If you are concerned, then call them back up but demand to be put through to a supervisor or manager. Not a min wage call centre lackey.[/QUOT

 

Well I phoned and spoke to a case worker who said she was not sure what had happened but that someone had done a final award ( no paper work sent ) on the 6th of July and had not used any of the new details!! So if I had not phoned this would have went on for another year!!! She said she would deal with it and now it's a waiting game again to see if we still get tax credits and also how much we owe! Am really angry they scare u to death with letters and then muck it all up and leave u waiting again!!! Wish this was all over

[renegadeimp]

It will be over soon. Unfortunatly HMRC are staff mostly by min wage idiots. Most arent even trained properly.

[paulabe71]

Hope it get's sorted out quickly for you x

[Pam Dell]

How rude, you are implying because they are low paid they are stupid?

 

That's not very nice.

[renegadeimp]

How rude, you are implying because they are low paid they are stupid?

 

That's not very nice.

 

In regards to HMRC call centres its right on the mark. I know 2 people who work in one of their main call centrers. Both regularly complain about the people who work there. They are inept and most of the time either dont turn up for training courses, or simply cant follow basic instructions.