Child tax credit. Am I getting too much?

[mentalchik]

I don't mind as long as they don't demand it all back in anyway other than taking it out of my child benefit (which will take years)

Ime they claw it back out of your further tax credits......that's what they have done with mine !

 

[trashpony]

Interesting. I do think that they fucked up, I'll have to hassle them!

Thing is though, they are HMRC. And if you owe them money, even if it's their fault, they will get it back off you. If you have a kid, they give you cash towards raising it. If they've fucked up, they will just not give you any money for ages and there's no way round that

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Something similar happened with us. We just kept saying "Show us how you think we owe you this money", and they kept saying "no", then threatening, and so it went on. Then they stopped asking about 18 months ago.
.

This happened to me too, I appealed on the grounds that it was their error which caused the overpayment since I had supplied all the relevant info at the earliest opportunity and they continued to pay me.

Eventually I said I wanted them to take me to court to recover the overpayment (thankfully as the overpayment was in my name and not joint names they couldnt deduct it from the current claim at the time. ) and we could discuss the fairness of my appeal which was turned down by them and the basis for the decision. They wanted to visit me to discuss a repayment plan and I repeated it again, they should take me to court for a judge to decide

I didnt hear any more

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

As for traceability it is very easy for someone to change the history of comunication on your computer file, there is no big folder with all your letters and stuff in it. Claims and renewals are dealt with at different offices round the country, as are changes in circumstances, it is quite possible that details you provided were entered onto the system without anybody even looking at your missus circumstances, thats why the anomlay of you receiving JSA would not have been noticed, that and the fact that a group of monkeys would have as much chance of coming up with the right figure than the people they employ.

Well, it just seems daft because we gave them all the details all at once over the phone in April when we came back into the UK.

I know it's not the same people but my benefit was stopped every month or so for no reason as well. Now it's stopped for good. This is all so frustrating, I wish I could just get a full time job.

 

[ethel]

I don't mind as long as they don't demand it all back in anyway other than taking it out of my child benefit (which will take years)

they can only take it out of the tax credit, not your child benefit. do you have the award notice? what does it say on it? you are supposed to check it for any mistakes.

 

[ethel]

ps. if you've been overpaid you need to read COP26

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/cop26.pdf

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

they can only take it out of the tax credit, not your child benefit. do you have the award notice? what does it say on it? you are supposed to check it for any mistakes.

I can't even remember being sent an award notice. I will have a check now.

 

[jusali]

FFS it's a fucking lottery. What was wrong with the old system of just slapping a tax code relating to circumstances. Instead of overpaying tax and then claiming it back in working tax credits it's totally arse backwards and nobody seems to know what the fuck they're doing?
I feel for you all I really do, my missus is merrily claiming WTC even though it scares me catatonic 'cos I KNOW one day they're gonna say "we overpayed you 7 Grand" and I KNOW that will be when we are totally on our arses!

 

[ethel]

I can't even remember being sent an award notice. I will have a check now.

right, basic rules not to get into trouble:


1. always notify of changes in circumstances
2. always ensure that you get an award notice and check that all details on it are correct. as ong as the details are correct, the sums don't matter. you are not expected to know exactly how much you are entitled to.
3. check that the payments you receive into your bank account are the same as those given on the award notice.
4. renew your tax credits every year by 31st july


follow thse and any overpayment will not have to be paid back.
i'm sure there's a checklist somewhere.

regarding the award notice:

"When you contact the Tax Credit Office to tell them about a change in circumstances, it's their responsibility to record the information and send you an award notice within 30 days. If you don't get an award notice within 30 days, you should tell them immediately. In this case, you may not have to pay back all of your overpayment."

 

[ViolentPanda]

Thing is though, they are HMRC. And if you owe them money, even if it's their fault, they will get it back off you. If you have a kid, they give you cash towards raising it. If they've fucked up, they will just not give you any money for ages and there's no way round that

Except for proving them wrong and appealing to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (whose office covers the tax credits).
Even HMRC don't fuck with ombudsman decisions, so all isn't lost and in fact the ombudsman has been known to specify that HMRC pay interest on money they've withheld.

 

[trashpony]

But what if they're right?

 

[Looby]

Dont ever expect tax credit people to get things right.

I worked there once, it was part time job in the evnings hot desking with the fulltime revenue staff.

My section of about 25 was mostly made up of schoolkids who came straight from school, and a large number of women who seemed to be doing the job just as a way of getting out of the house and socialising. If you gave the same claim to everyone in the section you would have had 25 different results. I saw it as a possible career, it was my only income and very important to me, but no one else seemed to take it seriously and realise that they were playing with people's lives.

I used to get letters from people like yourself saying that they were sure they were being overpaid and could they please stop receiving money, but we weren't allowed to stop their claims!! A claim could only be stopped if they gave a legitimate reason, ie they no longer qualified.

As for traceability it is very easy for someone to change the history of comunication on your computer file, there is no big folder with all your letters and stuff in it. Claims and renewals are dealt with at different offices round the country, as are changes in circumstances, it is quite possible that details you provided were entered onto the system without anybody even looking at your missus circumstances, thats why the anomlay of you receiving JSA would not have been noticed, that and the fact that a group of monkeys would have as much chance of coming up with the right figure than the people they employ.

I've put the bits in bold that are absolute crap and a fucking insult to anyone doing the job. Bollocks like this also scares people and makes them not claim when they could really do with the money. Saying that the staff don't take their jobs seriously is bang out of order imo.

As for being able to change the computer history-wtf?? Afaik every contact and action is recorded on the system and cannot be changed at a later date, also all calls are recorded.

Re your point about the JSA-tax credit advisors are not there to decide if the claimant is entitled to JSA or not, they simply input the info given to them from whatever source.

No-one is saying the system is perfect but what you describe is far from reality.

 

[ethel]

well said sparklefish.

interesting reading here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reducing-error-fraud.pdf

correct processing is now up to almost 97%. the important thing is to remember to inform HMRC of any changes in circumstances.

 

[ViolentPanda]

But what if they're right?

Then the poster doesn't lose anything more than they have already, do they?