Tax credit overpayment

[redheadwitch]

Hello,

I have posted on Money Matters but not getting a response, so apologies for posting here but in a bit of a panic and desperately seeking answers.

I've received a letter from HMRC saying I owe £1200 from 2011-2012. It gives no reason for why, just very basic info. Also, the letter states they've wrote to me before. I have not received any letters previously but am now concerned I will be outwith the dispute period which is apparently 30 days from first letter.
I was poverty stricken in 2011-2012. I certainly wasn't conning ths system and living large. I know I can call and ask for the reasons they think its an overpayment but 10 years down the line, I have no evidence to my defense, even if I can dispute it. Apparently I would need to give days/times of the calls where I updated my details etc. How could i possibly know that now.

My real question is, can they chase debts from so long ago? I thought 6 years was the limit? Its sent me into a total spin.

If I arrange a payment plan of say £20 per month, which is about what I can afford now, that's 5 years of debt for something I don't even think is right!

Bump* anyone?

Sounds like a scam to me.

Hi if you put in a SAR request you can make sure you definitely owe the money. Most debt is 6 years but HMRC seem to be different.

SAR: www.gov.uk/guidance/hmrc-subject-access-request

Also in regard to paying it back, they will do an affordability test if you ask, and I know people that have had payments put on hold as the affordability said they couldn't pay right now, call debt management to sort it out 0800 9160647. They normally say they'll accept £20 a month and review it in 6 months or something similar.

Hope that helps

You will have to request in writing a summary of how they came to the conclusion that you were overpaid.

And yes they can chase debts, the 6 year limit does not apply to hmrc or government debts.

I've had the same and have opened a dispute with them. I have agreed the minimum payment possible over 10 years mines from 2011 too and 2010

You need to speak to them!

Yes, they can chase a debt from that long ago. Have you moved/changed addresses and not let them know?

If a proper letter, then no, it's not a scam.

Sorry, but you need to call them. Or your fines will start to mount up (I speak from experience, mine did!)

It's a nightmare. I recently paid £300 back from 2016. No chance of speaking on the phone, I had tried for years. In the end I just sent a cheque.

Give them a ring, I'm in the middle of a dispute, the woman I spoke to was incredibly helpful and provided wording for me to use in my covering letter. I also spoke to Money Advice service and the woman there spent hour going over things with me. Good luck, you can do this!

@Notdoingthis

Wow, how did you get away without a fine? In the end, my fine was bigger than the amount I owed them! But all my fault for being very unorganised while freelancing... just very, very stressful!

Thanks all. I will be calling them tomorrow and sadly I don't think it's a scam, nothing in the letter sets off any suspicion.

My concern is that I don't think I'd have a leg to stand on to dispute it. I don't keep any paperwork from that long ago and certainly don't recall days/times of phone calls to them.
It was around that time (2011) that I separated from my husband so I imagine they will claim I didn't follow process correctly with that as I moved in with my mum for a while and had multiple part time jobs. I always filed my renewals promptly, updated addresses and gave correct incomes etc, so I certainly never purposefully defrauded them. I have always been terrified of HMRC and this exact situation. I've always tried to be very honest to prevent this occurring. I finally managed to get off benefits about a year ago and thought I had been successful in getting through the years unscathed. Apparently not!

Op whatever you do, don't ignore it. Dealing with tax credits will be far better than dealing with DWP who they might "give" the debt to.

I was also terrified of them for years, because I knew I hadn't sorted it out properly. So i just hid my head in the sand and then the fines got bigger and bigger; in the end they did me a favour by imposing an 'emergency tax code' on then my earnings (yes, they can do that too).

Believe me, although it was scary, it was such a relief to get it finally sorted out and off my brain. And I owed a lot more than you! But you will have been fined so you do need to sort it out.

Yep, husband received one last week for a sum too. He called them. We have to pay as his half of his and exes claim.

No idea. I got a request for it once a year and phoned up to try to pay but I could never get through. I kept all my paperwork and records of phone calls. The last letter had a way to pay by cheque so I did that. I'll probably hear from them again before long! I pnly claimed for a year, and hardly anything. Not worth it for all the hassle.

Make sure you ask for the breakdown of how/why the money is owed. If it was during a joint claim with your ex you may only be liable for half.

I had to pay back £900 2 years ago, they arranged a payment plan that fitted my budget. If you do owe the money they will be happy to work with you regarding repayments.

If you have an online account for tax credits try doing an online chat as the phone line is so busy.

They are doing this to a lot of people!

I got one a few months ago when I moved address and it was from about the same time. I knew nothing about it, haven't claimed anything for years. It was for a similar amount

Mine was an attachment of earning despite me knowing nothing. It was murder getting through but when I did I agreed to pay £100 a month to stop the deduction of wages. I asked for the details to be sent to me, it was minimal. Then I put in a complaint and got a basic brush off back. I now pay £20 a month reluctantly x

Your situation sounds very similar to mine. Long story short, mine was from when I ended a joint claim with my ex many years ago and had an overpayment. I paid my 50% of the overpayment at the time, and they are now trying to claw back his 50%. I am not liable, I have been assured of this, but also told that they will keep sending letters that I can just ignore. It won’t be chased any further than that.

I just don't get how they can say they tried to contact people when they haven't. When my husband called they trotted out the 'we sent you a letter'. We'll they couldn't have because he's never received one, ever and neither had his ex until last week. Good job they're on good terms.

We had similar recently, overpayment from 2008/9.

Apparently the overpayments have been moved from HMRC to DWP and a lot of people have been receiving these letters.

The collection people are actually very helpful, as long as the money is paid back in ten years they're very reasonable with payment plans.

It all feels like a very elaborate way to screw people over:

1. Send out phantom first letters, which triggers the countdown on the small time frame to dispute.
2. Wait so long to pursue the debt that people no longer have records to dispute
3. Give people either such little information, or such jibberish information, that they have no idea where the calculations have come from.

It's certainly a very solid game they are playing! I will be calling them at 8am to see what's what. I've got all my income & expenditure written down. At the end of the month, I have £33 left. That's before I've bought myself a takeaway or maybe a new tshirt. Literally working 40 hours per week to pay the bills and be left with a whole, delicious 30 quid to spoil myself with. And now they want to take a chunk of that