.....to think the Tax Credits system is a shambles?

[LadyThumb]

My son was claiming tax credits, then stopped work, so phoned them to cancel tax credits. He didn't realise they were still paying him (he has Aspergers) but thought it was part of JSA.

Anyway, he is now paying is all back monthly but they have now decided to charge him for it twice! We can't convince them they are wrong so far. It is a lot of money, and I am completely fed up with phoning them etc. They are a complete shambles!

[EdwardorEricCantDecide]

YANBU
I strongly believe they are not worth the hassle of applying! I don't get any now due to an overpayment a mistake on their part not mine but still need to fill in the damn forms/renewals so that what I owe them will come down!

PITA doesn't even cover it!

[OrganicFreeRangeBoys]

YANBU.

We haven't claimed for about 3yrs but just last week got a letter saying we owe them £2000 for April 10 to April 11.

Cannot for the life of me convince them that they are wrong.

I have no idea what to do about it though.

[festiemum]

YAdefinitelyNBU!

They reckon I owe them over 900 quid! For a period of time when I was entitled to maximum Tax Credits. Shambles doesn't cover it!

Organic - you can dispute it; that's what I'm doing. Here's a link to the form you need to send:

tax credits overpayment form

[Callisto]

It is such a stupid, costly system - take taxes only to pay them back. It is no wonder there are so many cock ups. We never applied because it seemed more hassle than it was worth and I'm very glad we didn't.

[messagetoyourudy]

I think they need to be more transparent about how they work out the tax credits - ie: If you have a household income of £x and your childcare costs are £y then you should be entilted to £z.

This year I took a £3000 wage cut, also our childcare costs dropped from £145 per week to about £115 per week. Our tax credits dropped from about £85 per week to £22 per week. When I rang the tax credit to ask them to explain the calculation they couldn't! He just said the limits had been changed. Our household income is about £35k so it makes a fairly big difference to us.

I have no faith that it's correct.

[Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern]

I agree YANBU.
I no longer work have been paid off and DH wage is lower than last year yet our tax credits have gone down by £30 a week and then a deduction for an overpayment from last year and that over payment is down to the period that the thresholds went down not because we weren't entitled to that amount as we were at the beginning of the tax year.

[hayleysd]

My friend ended up paying back thousands as they didn't put her dh's income on the system, and she couldn't
Convince them it was wrong when she queried how much they were paying her

[Tee2072]

It is a total mess and makes no sense at all. You would think there were no such thing as computers.

[biddysmama]

my friend got £3000 put in her account they told her was an underpayment.... she rang every day for a month until they found that it was a mistake and she has to pay it back... but she cant just give it all back, she has to pay it in instalments because they dont take it all at once for some reason?

[containher]

We have been over paid SEVERAL years..then had to pay back the next. This year my partner was made redundant and I am no longer working and out family income is the lowest it has ever been...yet they are pursuing £2800 overpayment...despite us informing them endlessly of our status! and we are getting less than we ever have..makes no sense. If it was run by the public sector there would be no mistakes !!!

[michelleseashell]

Totally agree. They know how much money to take off me though, don't they? They manage to work that out alright!

[ReadyToDrink]

YANBU. A year ago, H moved out & I informed them immediately & his details were removed. This week I got a new 'statement' thing from them, with his details suddenly back on & figures adjusted accordingly. As far as I know, he still doesn't live here