Tax credit overpayment. HMRC mistake though

[grayson]

Hello.

 

We have 2 children and we were receiving working tax credits for both of them.

My eldest son left school in February to start an apprenticeship so we informed child benefit using their online form. A section of the form asked Have you informed Tax credits, to which I selected no a box then appeared “Don’t worry we will inform them for you” or words the that effect.

A couple of week later we received a letter saying the child benefit payment will stop at the end of the month

We thought our Tax credits had been adjusted as our amount reduced by £5.

That is until the renewal pack arrived in July and it appears Tax credits were not informed by Child benefit and we now owe £700 in overpayment.

We have appealed but they have overturned the appeal and want the money back.

The letter just looks like a standard reply though

We followed code of practice 26 but HMRC did not. Is there anything else I can do as we are struggling financially at the moment?

[grayson]

Hello.

 

We have 2 children and we were receiving working tax credits for both of them.

My eldest son left school in February to start an apprenticeship so we informed child benefit using their online form. A section of the form asked Have you informed Tax credits, to which I selected no a box then appeared “Don’t worry we will inform them for you” or words the that effect.

A couple of week later we received a lettericon saying the child benefit payment will stop at the end of the month

We thought our Tax credits had been adjusted as our amount reduced by £5.

That is until the renewal pack arrived in July and it appears Tax credits were not informed by Child benefit and we now owe £700 in overpaymenticon.

We have appealed but they have overturned the appeal and want the money back.

The letter just looks like a standard reply though

We followed code of practice 26 but HMRC did not. Is there anything else I can do as we are struggling financially at the moment?

 

This was posted in benefit thread by mistake. Please delete post from Benefit forum.

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

I've merged your threads. If you think you've posted in the wrong forum another time, please report it via the black triangle at the bottom of the post to alert the site team. They won't necessarily read your post, I just happened to this time.

 

HB

[blondebubbles]

Did you dispute or appeal? A dispute would be the correct action, not an appeal.

 

One of your responsibilities as per the COP26 is:

 

If you don’t get an award notice within 30 days of telling us about a change in circumstance let us know as soon as possible.

 

Many disputes lose due to this as payments wouldn't have changed as they expect a reasonable person the question why.