i recently had a letter for the child tax credits telling me that i had to pay back over £500 and this is dating back to a single claim that i had in 2003-2004, are they right to claim this money back from me 3 years later, and if they are not what can I do about it.
thank you for anyone who can help.

Hi

I, too, have had a huge bill from the Tax Credits Office because my claim ended when I split from my husband.

Apparently, they can do this, but they will also allow you to make repayments gradually. The system is based on the previous year's income and, when your income fluctuates, as ours did, it makes a complete mockery of the whole idea (which is to help families with children)!

But don't despair - ring them, talk to them and they should help you sort it out.

Cat

Hi There,
This has happened to my friend, complain to the adjudicator, ask the Child Tax Office for a leaflet on how to complain, my friend found there was so much backlog of complaints against the Child Tax Credit, that she found the fastest way to get this sorted out was to get intouch with her local MP, you can find out who they are, by going to your Council Office, the MP will put your complaint through to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

I am under the impression that they cannot insist you pay it all at once, and, for instance, if you received £20 per week, they cannot takemore than that back, so if you owe £500 which iwas overpaid at £20 per week then you would have at least 25 weeks to pay it back in. Personally I would show them your outgoings, and tell them what you CAN afford - even if it's £5 a week.

Catastrophica is right though, it makes a mockery of the whole thing - one month you might get an extra £50 which you have been relying on, but the next month not only do they not give you that, they demand you pay THEM!!

MP is a good idea, and speaking to a higher officer who has some dicretion to agree a repayment schedule which suits you.

Shel

Hi Shel,
The reason my friend, took things further with the Child Tax Office, was because they were taking nearly 60.00 a month off her, no matter how many times she pleaded with them, that they were taking to much money, and even wrote a letter explaining what she had to pay out each month, they refused to take less. She did have more to pay out, than 500, but they should take into account every persons financial circumstances.

I was told, when I got upset with them, that they would do an income and expenditure, and assess how much I could afford to pay. They also said that, as the old claim was in joint names, my ex would be similarly liable for the money.

I plan to drag it out as endlessly as possible. To say that I am disappointed with the ethos of the Tax Credits system would be a grave understatement!

I wonder what will happen with my new claim in my sole name?

Cat

i have just decided to pay up, i have contacted them and they have aggreed i can pay it over 24 months as it was a single claim they can not ask much more of me so thank you for all your help

I got overpaid on tax credits and owe them £1200 which I am disputing. For 1 thing they didnt start my initial claim until 26-10-2003 though my son was born 19-07-2003. I only noticed this year when the big bill landed.

The Overpayment is from a previous claim with my ex-husband and they have told me that even if I pay back half and he doesnt, they will continue to chase me for the outstanding as we are both "jointly and severably liable" for any monies owed. Am in the process of disputing this too.

They have told me today that they are not going to pay me my back pay as it is my fault i didnt make the claim sooner.

I'm going to wait until I both decisions in writing and appeal, and get my MP involved if I have to. I know the onus was on me to make the claim but a claim should be backdated for 93 days so long as entitlement exists in the period. Therefore I think (even though it was 2 tax years ago they should pay up!

Just 1 more thought, if you guys do not believe the overpayments is your fault as you were given incorrect advise but cant remember dates of calls etc to dispute the you can request a Subject Access Request which details all the manual notes and recording that tax credit office hold for you.

Happy to help if needed as I am a bit of an expert in Tax credits. x

Hi Zainiac,
I would definately dispute this, my friend has had so many problems with the Child Tax Credit office, she is still waitng for a reply from Government, her MP passed her details on to them, she was overpaid, but again like your situation, her claim was delayed, and she presumed this so called overpayment, was what they owed her for not putting her claim, through at the right time. They have made so many mistakes, and are using bully boy tactics to scare everyone, It does not help when the Government keep changing there minds, whether to waiver the overpayments which are the Child Tax credits fault in most cases, or reclaim the overpayments back, they have back logs of complaints they cannot answer, they will not give the information to the Adjiucator. So my friend ended up waiting nearly 3 years to get this sorted out, they still took payments each month, and left her in debt. They would not delay taking payments when she pleaded with them, that her case was under investigation. My friend was so upset and depressed with what they were doing, there a law upon themselves, I advise anyone to get your MP involved as soon as possible, its a quicker route. Zainiac, good luck and dont give into these unsensitive, bullies.

Dear Linda,

They can claim this money back after 3 years as it may be the system has only just updated due to a change in circumstances.
Initially you should ring the tax credit helpline on 08453003900 and request that you recieve a written explanation in writing for the overpayments which you should recieve in 15 days. Then phone the recovery department on 0845 302 1429 to ask they suspend recovery until this matter is sorted out.
The questions you need to ask yourself are:
Do you believe the overpayment is your fault?
Have you been incorrectly advised leading to the overpayments?
Could you tell the payments you were received were wrong? If so did you make any attempt to get this corrected?
Finally if you beleive this is not your fault you can dispute the OP (request a COP26 from the call centre) so long as you have eveidence.
You can also request all copies of manual and recorded calls held by the tax credit offices if this is required as evidence.

If it is repayable they can not demand this from you in one go. They can complete a income and expenditure questionnaire with you, for which you can include ANY expenses, then come to a installment plan suitable for yourself.

Hope this helps.
Any queries dont hesitate to ask.

Hi Zainiac,
Everything in your e-mail is correct and my friend went through the normal procedure, and the final destination for her was the adjudicator, they were great, and tried to sort everything out, but were delayed from doing so, because the Child Tax Credit would not hand over, valuable information to her case, basically they dragged there feet. Another problem you have is because the computers get confused, more to the point the person inputting the data is getting everything wrong, then it takes months and months to put it right in my friends case nearly 3 years. You did mention this in your e-mail. My friend bought in her MP, because of all the errors, and because they would not listen to anything she asked them, they would say one thing and do another, it was a very distressing time for my friend, and believes they could have rectified this problem much quicker. Everyone on this thread is having similiar problems, and you have right to take this organisation on, they are ruining peoples lives. What makes me angry about my friends circumstances, is how many times I have seen my friend upset, and cannot do anything. The Child Tax Credit has been running over 3 years now, and there is no exscuse for there mistakes, and I believe this is a Human Rights situation, and they should look into this, for everyone they have deliberately let down.

Well, guys, you are NOT going to believe this!!

I've just had my letter regarding my new claim as a single parent. They plan to give me way more than I can believe I am entitled to. So I rang them and they said that it was correct as it was based on my old (very low so as to be below tax threshold) income from when I was married. But I have a new job, I say!! Doesn't matter, says Tax Credits Lady, you are assessed on your income for the previous year as to how you will cope during the year in question. But I don't want to be overpaid, says I. You won't be, says (rather nice actually) Tax Credits Lady, but it will adjust when you go to claim for the year 08/09 and will drop right down.

Yeah, right, to zero, whilst I 'repay' all that I should not have had!!

I'm going to stuff it all in savings so I don't get hammered, but, the truth is, I need this money (four kids, no husband and not exactly rolling in it) and I should be able to rely on it with confidence to provide for my children.

Having the courage to leave my husband and instigate a divorce was hard enough without all this stress and strife.

Cat

And that, right there, is the big problem. How is a payment based on LAST year's income going to help you this year? How does one budget, if NEXT year they are going to take away that extra income, even though you'll be earning the same, and have the same outgoings, and even though you have told them everything??

I spoke to a friend on Tuesday night who has been told she has to repay over £3k because she earned extra income during a year 2 years back, and even though she PHONED the TC people each week, human error has meant the additional income hasn't been calculated into her income, then her husband left, so in the initial re-calculations then, the errors went unnoticed. When she got a full time well paid job, her youngest started school so left childcare, and she moved in with a new wealthier partner, she informed them if these new changes, and they presented her with a whopping great bill!! Having appealed it, and had her appeal rejected because they had said she didn't notify them of the additional income 2 years ago, she pointed out that she had kept a record of dates times and NAMES of each call - EVERY WEEK - and the officer basically said 'well your appeal was overruled and you only get one chance at appeal, so it's tough'

So bear that in mind if any of you appeal - you get ONE chance - make it count!!

Shel
who gets £9.72pw she probably isn't entitled to any longer, but it's MY £9.72 and they aren't having it. They want it, they can have it at £5 pw for the rest of time.

Five pounds a month, Shel. A month!!!

Like I said, I am going to shunt it to one side, although the thought of that money arriving in my bank account made me want to weep with joy! I checked my account, and, sure enough, there was the first payment as promised.

And I still have the 'old' joint debt to consider. Luckily, my XH isn't a total swine and will take some responsibility in that regard.

It makes me want to howl in frustration. I'm honest. I work hard for my money, and I have to make it stretch mighty far. My kids are well brought up, polite, well loved, and well cared for. I don't expect the state to help me, but if it is going to offer, then it could at least be for real, instead of a stupid illusion that does nothing except make me worry my head off.

Rant over!

Cat

Dear peeps,

This is show this works (very briefly as I have my 4yrs old making a mess with dinner). Basically a new claim is set up using previous years figures and previous years they said you can earn above, in the current tax year, £2500 above what was declared. This year the 'income disregard' is £25K. So you can earn £25K above what you declared and get to keep your same entitlement to tax credits for THAT year. It will be the following year that the calim is reassessed to take into account if income has risen above £25K.
So for example:
Person A claims today and was working part time last year and earnt £5K.The claim is set up on this £5K giving maixmum entitlement to both working and child tax credit.
Person A then goes onto find a new job with a massive pay increase and new earnings of £28K This person then in this tax year (06/04/2006-05/04/2007), retains all their entitlement and doesnt owe any money back, as the award is still based on £5K as pay increase has not exceeded £25K.
In the new tax year (06/04/2007-05/04/2008) the new tax credits will be based on new earnings of £28K and entitlement will decrease.


Hope that makes sense.
Zainiac