Tax Credits Overpayment Dispute

[FlickStar]

Hi
wondered if anyone else had ever had a genuine dispute and been succesful?

To keep it short and sweet, I was on maternity leave for 1 year and my husband unfortunately lost his job. From May 2014 - May 2015 we were on a very reduced income of around £12k so we received tax credits.

As soon as we were both back in full time work we notified the tax office to cease payments. Since then, they claim that we were overpaid by £3k! (which would mean that whole year we were not mean to have any benefits?1)

As we have never claimed benefits before, we updated them on our situation all the time, and as soon as didnt need benefits we told them.

The dispute has been ongoing since July 2015 and even our local MP is now involved. After finally getting a breakdown of their calculation, it looks like my full time wage that I returned to in May 2015 they have backdated through 2014 ????? which isn't correct.

I have told them this, but they aren't budging. I don't know what else to do. I have given them a month by month breakdown of our income etc - but trying to get a response out of them that is clear and consistent is maddeningly impossible.

Ive said I will recomplete a form if I need to, to 'correct' the figures they have mis-applied, but just not getting anywhere ...

Any help greatly appreciated
x

[EDDIE51]

Go to the CAB and ask them to sort it out. They have priority phone lines to all the government benefit / tax credit departments and can get through when you can't. I had my pension credit stopped due to a mistake. I tried to get through for 3 days without getting an answer. The CAB got through in 5 minutes and sorted it out over the phone.

[Peter Pedant]

This should be sorted out thro the usual channels
you have grounds to appeal and they should be sorting it
and it is relatively clear what your case is

your MP can still allege maladministration and it might be worth keeping on with that

The head of the HMRC has recently ( yesterday) named the date she will go with a million pound pension pot and the MPs commented that last year they called the HMRC sevice 'abysmal' and that it had recently got WORSE !

keep on keeping on

[ummmm]

Despite what Peter say's your case is not straight forward.
Firstly you cannot appeal and overpayment you can only dispute, if you have already disputed it then you must ask for a review - if this has already been done then your only option is to take it out of HMRC.
You say that the income is wrong - they take the income direct from your employers now and check it against what you have provided, they then issue award notices with this income on - if you do not tell them there is an error then you have failed your responsibilities and the overpayment stands.
Your MP will be told the same thing and will not be able to get the overpayment wiped out for you.

^^^that has been sent to me by someone who works for HMRC.

[FlickStar]

Hi ummmmmm
They can't have got it from employers as they say in the letter response are using the figures we gave them, but as I didn't put anything for my husband they used the figures from a previous claim and applied these instead! which is totally wrong as the JSA was income based and only paid for 6 months, and not the 12 that they have recalculated!

throughout their letter they refer to figures we have given them, but they are applying 2014 instead of 2015.

[EDDIE51]

ummmm,. Flik star has said that she has got a breakdown of their calculation and it is wrong. It should just a case of providing proof that their calculation is wrong. The CAB will help with this, I know from personal experience that the CAB have access to direct phone lines that the general public are not allowed to use. In my case the CAB were able to speak directly to a senior manager who personally sorted out the problem while they were on the phone.

[ummmm]

Eddie...I did post that my post come from someone who works at HMRC who reads AB but is not actually a member.

[Arrods]

Even if they have paid out incorrectly, isn't there something in the rules about them not being able to reclaim money if it is paid out due to 'administrative error' (provided the recipient has always done the right thing from their perspective)? I do know that it applied in the case of a DWP payment.

[jim360]

Dealings with HMRC are heavily stacking in their favour, sadly. In an overpayment case the default position, that is probably still very difficult to challenge, is that it was almost certainly not their fault (this despite having had tens of thousands of such problems, itself probably an underestimate) so you will have to pay back the excess (and sometimes even more, although the rules may have changed).

Our own family had such a case once. My mother is not exactly a novice when it comes to government forms and understanding benefits claims, but nevertheless we had a massive overpayment about ten years back. Eventually, this was tracked down to some administrative error whereby HMRC decided that it didn't know what her annual salary was in the new year, but decided to put down what was described, without irony, as a "reasonable estimate". Their chosen estimate for her total annual salary before tax ... £1.

Mum probably knew the system almost as well as, if not better than, the people on the other side of the phone, and it still didn't make much difference. We ended up having to pay back the overpayment and more besides.

I know this doesn't bode well for the OP's chances, but on the other hand this was ten years ago or so, and things may have changed. The advice given of getting in touch with the CAB I'd endorse -- they will have the skills needed to deal with this best.

[FlickStar]

Oh dear. This doesn’t bode well at all.

I have never claimed benefits before, so thought I was completing form in properly – but looks like where they asked for my 2014 – 2015 salary – I put my most recent salary, which was literally agreed a week before I completed the form (in May 2015, so stupid me thought its 2015 so put that salary!) . So I thought I was doing the right thing by saying this is my salary now, I don’t need benefits anymore 

So I now have to pay back £3000 ????? That makes me physically sick. And upset. The one and only time we ever claimed benefits and its totally bitten us in the bum!

[ummmm]

I don't think you have to pay it back in a lump sum. I think they can do an attachment to your wages so you pay monthly.

[FlickStar]

I am already paying it back monthly (as I didn't want to leave it totally) but it will take me nearly 7 years to pay it back!

Shocking really, even if it was my error, I would be happy to pay admin fee - but we are basically paying back ALL the benfits we ever receved in a 12 month period when for part of that time we had no wages at all

just doesnt seem right at all

[EDDIE51]

Flickstar, get in touch with your local CAB they really are experts at this sort of problem. They stand a far better chance of success than you do on your own.Not only my pension credit they also helped my wife claim disability living allowance. We tried 3x on our own and were refused every time. When the CAB applied on our behalf we got the full allowance agreed within 5 days and a 6 months backdated payment!

[FlickStar]

Thanks EDDIE51 - Will make an appointment for CAB :)