to be amazed at how easy it seems to be to rip of tax credits!!

[icedcoffeecake]

turns out after talking to two mumsn from school that mum one has put down her husbands yearly income at £8000 less to get more money and another claims that her childminding friend looks after her dd an gets £100 a week for this (£50 of which she actually gives to her mum for watching said dd)

how many others over the country must be doing this and why dont they get caught?

i will be calling the helpline and reporting btw!

[mychildrenarebarmy]

easy maybe but they have to be pretty dense to do this surely?! Don't they realise that when it catches up with them then they are going to have to pay it back?!

[expatinscotland]

there's no statute of limitations on how long the HMRC has to get the money back.

the one who claims her husband's income is lower will eventually be caught. that's pretty easy to suss out because, after all, it's HMRC.

i wouldn't want the HMRC coming after me, tbh.

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

Good point actually icedcoffee, they don't actually ask for evidence do they.

But then they don't on tax returns either.

I would be way too scared to lie. And of course I'm scrupulously honest.

I bet they hardly ever check up though - probably loads of people are getting away with it. I read a thing about the revenue where they said that they knew of about 30 people who always declared their income as zero even though they knew they were really high earning barristers and things. And they weren't planning on doing anything about it. Their reason for that escapes me now

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

I always find it odd when people who are on the fiddle go around telling everyone. What on earth is that about?

(Thanks for setting me straight shiney)

[BlueGreen]

Actually shineoncrazydiamond, it is our!!! business to let HMRC.

Us, who pays their tax`s and live an honest life taken advantage by people who are fiddling and claiming the money they dont deserve!

Thank you so much icedcoffeecake, for being an honest person and reporting them.

Well done!

[Kbear]

Thieving cheating lying bastards - I wouldn't hesitate to grass up a benefits cheat - they make me sick. Don't care what their reasons are, many people are struggling on a low income with high outgoings and don't steal.

[aGalChangedHerName]

I CM'd for a lady for around 19/20 months and unknown to me she wasn't actually working I would go pick baby up and she'd go "off to work". Hah what she would actually do is wait till i had driven away then go home and chill all day.

She had previously worked for the Inland Revenue and obviously knew how to screw the system. I did have a phone call from the powers that be and was amazed to hear that i was still CMing for her a year after we parted company. She will be in a shit load of trouble now. I reckon she will have claimed £100 at least a week more than she told me which takes the amount up to many thousands of £££££.

No sympathy from me for her. Cheating bastards!!

[pokeydot]

how do they though? i have to give the amount of dh p60 at the end of the year?

or do people just give a random number lying?!

[coolma]

Of course they'll get caught out! You have to provide the p60 the following year. CAn't believe they think they'll get away with it.

[Ninkynork]

It would be easy to do if you were fiddling your self-employed tax return at the same time

[misscutandstick]

we got checked up on a couple of years ago - had to send in P60 and stuff, and SIL got checked last year. They can go thru your tax details too to make sure.

I would grass as well, like PP says theres loads of people skint and still struggling thru honestly.

[kylesmyloveheart]

beats me why they would tell you though? are you particularly close to them?

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

I have never had to provide any evidence of earnings etc coolma. I don't think they ask as a matter of course.

[MrsMattie]

I wouldn't report someone based on a school gates chat, either.

[icedcoffeecake]

no not close to them at all. we happened to be talking about getting our renewal packs through and they brought up that they were cheating the system.

they were actually that i did not do this!

from there reaction it sounded like they know loads of people who also fiddled the tax credits.

i would never do this but it did make me think that in the 6 or so years i have claimed i dont think i have ever been asked for proof of income, makes you wonder how many £££££ are being wasted each year when the money could go towards new schools etc.

[MANATEEequineOHARA]

They are boasting because they are stupid but actually think they are clever and think that people will be in awe of their 'cleverness' that lets them 'beat the system'. Idiots!

[icedcoffeecake]

stupid chat?

it was a fairly normal after school chat, none of us were pulling faces or wearing fake noses

[shoshe]

it always amazes me as a Cm, that when people claim tax credits for my services, that nobody actually checks that the children are actually with me.

I don't have to fill anything in, and all they need is my Early Years Registration number!

I now do not give it out until children have actually started with me, as I have had Parents come for a interview, decide not to come, but keep my prospectus which had my EY number on it.

They then would use my number to claim.

The only reason I knew was because they were stupid enough to move to Liverpool ( I live in Dorset) and still claim! They were caught and I got a phone call asking how long they had been with me before they moved, I could tell the Inspector that I had never had them.

I do think we should get sent a list of who is claiming on our number every year, we could then return it with the right claimants.

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

Agreed shiney just that coolma seemed to be saying that everyone had to provide evidence which i know is not true.

Best way of fiddling the system is to be self employed and get an accountant who knows their stuff.

I will never forget a thing I heard on the radion about child poverty - someone was saying that less children were actually living in poverty than it seemed "due to the way many self-employed people declare their earnings". Certainly I have never met anyone self employed who wasn't bending the rules one way or another...