Tax Credit enquiry - telephone interview

[WTCI2020]

Hello.
I am after some advice please.
I have been knowingly claiming Child Tax and Working Tax Credits since reuniting with my partner.

I acknowledge that it is fraud and I should have immediately reported a change of circumstances.

 

That aside, I have received a letter detailing that Mr X has links to my address during a 4 month window in 2019 and I would like peoples experience of such interviews. I plan to be honest, ironic I know.

 

My main concern is that I work for the NHS and should I be convicted, I would likely lose my job.

I understand that my consequences have actions but without my job, I won't be in a position to repay what I owe.

 

I already have a step change agreement in place.

I really do not wish to bog this with excuses but I haven't been using the money for holidays/fine dining/handbags...it has been used to booster a low income family.

 

I would be grateful if I could hear from anyone who has been through the same and ease my worries by informing me what I can expect.

 

Thank you.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. We have plenty of other threads about overpaid tax credits for you to read.

 

As you say, you need to be honest with HMRC, they will then work out how much you've been overpaid and deduct it from future payments in affordable amounts.

 

It's highly unlikely you'll be convicted of anything if you reach an agreement to pay. Of all the threads we have here, I can't think of a single person who got as far as court.

 

Tell us a bit more about your Step Change agreement, it could be we can help with that.  

 

Best, HB

[dx100uk]

hope all your debts with stepchange are enforceable..

you should never be blindly paying a debt collection agency anything without checking 

[WTCI2020]

Hello. I've been paying step change monthly for some time now. No issues there and they have always been extremely helpful and encourage me to only pay what I can.

 

I feel so foolish about the situation I am. It's so ironic, I thought I could continue to claim to get myself out of a hole but it's just turned into a pit of lies. I just need to sleep, my head is throbbing.

[unclebulgaria67]

I think best way forward is to have a review of current circumstances.

 

Tax credits will just ask you for the information they are missing as your household income changed and you have received more support than you were entitled to.  So once they have the information, they will calculate how much you owe them and write to you. You then need to speak to them about methods of repaying the amount owed.

 

In regard to the debts you are repaying through Stepchange, if this is still continuing, I think it would help to see whether this is the optimum way to deal with the debts.  Any tax credits debt is going to affect whether this arrangement can continue and if so, what amount you can still afford.

 

What debts are your paying via Stepchange ?  List the following information for each debt,

 

Creditor ( Bank or current debt owner), Type of debt (credit card,  loan, overdraft)   approx date original account was opened - amount of debt, - approx date stepchange last paid the creditor.

 

If you can supply such information, then it might help us understand how to proceed.  

 

Suggest that you also use a Benefits calculator to see what entitlements you currently have.

 

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

start a new topic in the debt self help forum here

you should never blindly pay any DMP provider anything esp if a debt collector is involved

 

dx

 

[pickles2k]

Hi WTC, just wondering what the outcome of this was?? Have you heard anything? What was said?