To think this is DISGRACEFUL! Massive tax credits overpayment!

[CrumblingKnees]

Just furious that common sense is not prevailing and I am essentially being robbed of money by HMRC!

So, twin DC finished education in summer 2021. Both have a disability, DH works but we were entitled to tax credits as wage not massive and we got the higher rate due to disability. I remember getting a letter saying tax credits would stop from August 31st due to this. Was aware and knew I’d have to find a job to cover the shortfall.

Payments stopped and I then started working in November 2021. I do remember getting some letters from them but ignored as as far as I was concerned claim had ended (stupid I know). Youngest was diagnosed with a serious illness last summer and I’ve been a bit of a mess, not keeping on top of things like I normally am.

Anyway got a letter from them a few weeks ago saying we’d been overpaid almost £2,000! Shocked, rang and basically they’d added on my work income from November onwards to my tax credit claim for that year (it was not closed). I assumed claim had ended in August and if it had been there would be no overpayment!

I’ve explained this and filed a dispute. They’ve come back today and said that as I didn’t dispute before the end of Jan the overpayment stands and we need to pay it!

AIBU to think this is a pisstake and totally wrong for a government agency to take money from families like this?

@thismamayogi how long were you pregnant for?

In the 2015 Summer Budget, the Government announced that the child element of child tax credit (CTC) would be limited to two children for those born after 6 April 2017 unless certain exceptions apply

Sorry @CrumblingKnees i mentioned you in wrong context previously - I was answering another commentator. I think you have been sorely treated as you tried to do the right thing and got caught up in bureaucracy that isn’t fair.

@Lovelyveg82 , @Glitteratitar and @berksandbeyond

Wow check out the judgement.
I didn’t say I can’t afford my kids - though sudden rent and cost of living increases have made times tough - I merely think a “tax credits for two children only” policy makes the other kids seem less valid. Do you all agree that some kids are less valid than others? really? Some people matter more?

I am a number six of six myself and grew up with the constant comments, in front of me to my parents, indicating I was basically superfluous to requirements. These attitudes shock me - it’s so damn judgemental and mean. I think OP is right to find the system mean and inconsistent - I also find it so. That’s all. I love and care for my kids.
It’s stupid to suggest paying tax credits encourages people to have more and more children - in my experience people make those decisions for very different reasons - as I have pointed out - and it remains true that the vast majority of people in our culture prefer smaller families for a host of reasons - all are valid choices - why attack me for mine? And please - don’t you dare with the unemployed bullshit. My DH and I both work our arses off, I just don’t happen to be paid for it. We made a decision for me to work as a mum at home - I home educate my kids and my eldest has severe special needs for which I get no practical support as she is deemed “too complex”. Yes - mums who go out to work (as both my sisters do) also work extremely hard and are full time mums - I only use the phrase because “housewife” is very out of vogue.
I am not attacking anyone’s choices - I am pointing out government does little to help families - and families remain the bedrock of society.
I think it’s so sad to see these attitudes - because it ends up affecting the way we treat children. All my kids are so loved and well provided for. But people let these views affect how they act - I have a sister in law who makes it quite clear she thinks my youngest two shouldn’t really be here - it’s appalling.

But everyone decides how many kids they can afford surely, that isn't a benefits question but a matter of common sense.

No one is criticising your decision to have several children…we’re criticising your expectation that other people should pay for them.

The lack of financial literacy and personal accountability on here is extremely depressing.

I’m not asking others to pay for them - I’m talking government policy. If we’re going to get into that - I deeply object to the government still spending millions on trident, sending arms to Ukraine, paying ministers for dubious duties that serve no one - squandering millions on those nightingale hospitals that never got used once - I was not talking generally about what the government does with tax - if you have a problem with benefits in general and think I’m a freeloader for using them where they are due - that’s another matter. I was making a point about government policy to pay a “benefit” for raising children, but only for a set amount of children - clearly indicating that more is therefore less socially acceptable, according to the logic. That is all. I was using this premise to illustrate the point that government policy rarely puts families front and centre but instead squanders resources on areas that do not benefit families. I believe that supporting families in any way ends up being beneficial in general because robust families make society stronger. That’s it. The systems are so opaque - as OP pointed out - she made a call and there was all sorts of nonsense about cut off periods and confusing criteria - she was overpaid because of confusion and error and then the waters were further muddied. This is typical of the opacity of simply claiming a benefit that is supposed to be made fairly universally available. OP was not trying to commit fraud, but found the impact of having to pay back for this error would be huge - whereas in all honesty the government would barely notice if they let it go.

basically, these policies end up hindering as much as helping and it should all be simpler and clearer, and, yes, fairer. There is little enough to make raising a family in today’s hostile climate anything less than a superhuman endeavour.

They can have as many as they heck they like.

But thankfully we don’t all need to pay for them.

A two child benefits policy makes the other children “less valid”???

I don’t regard the validity of my children based on whether I am eligible to receive benefits for them

I like the two child benefit policy because it means people have to think about their financial situation before having more than 3. Essentially makes people have skin in the game.

More than 2

So presumably @thismamayogi after your second child and knowing no additional benefits you and your partner thought… yes, we can afford a third and provide a good standard of living to all three without additional support.

and then you thought the same about a 4th.

and then you thought the same about a 5th

Whereas I had two and I thought “a third would be lovely but…. Nope, can’t afford a third without sacrifices I do not think would benefit my current two”. So I didn’t.

You ignored the letters. Your fault.

I have no words for how bonkers this is - that a child’s validity has any link to what handouts you can get for them.

Government shouldn’t be providing anyone with anything other than a leg up in times of need.

un-means tested child benefit shouldn’t exist at all for any number of kids (said as a parent of kids).

This

Tax credits are calculated on your forecasted income for the year ahead.your income projection was what you were being paid for.
When you started working that changed your income for that whole year,you were being paid monthly based on your estimated or actual income would be up until April 2023.
Which would entitle you to the monthly payments you were getting.
But your monthly payments would have been lower had you been able to foresee the job that you started.

It's a horrible system which actually pays you what you estimate you will earn for the year ahead .and none of us are fortune tellers,so many many households end up owing back payments .

One of the reasons for reluctance to switch from tax credits to UC is the buzzard difference in savings rule.
UC £6k ( I might be wrong and it is £16k,but money taken off for each £250 or so)
Tax credits have no savings rule .

Buzzard?? Bizzare I mean

Of course you should use savings before State intervention 🤦‍♂️

You surely knew you wouldn't get them for five after the rules changed? Your sister clearly had hers before the rules changed.

Thank goodness it's changed now then. Ridiculous being able to have unlimited savings and claim hundreds in tax credits a month. Who ever thought up that system?

Yes you were overpaid. Your tax credit payments from 5 April to the end of summer would have been based on you being unemployed for the entire tax year of 5 April 20221- 4 April 2022.

The fact you went and got a job in Nov 2021, means your household income went up over what was projected for the tax year 21/22 which meant you were paid more than you were entitled to as the tax credit entitlement is based on annual income for the tax year.

Thats why it’s called a tax credit. Tax. It’s in the name.

Interest from savings and investments is counted as additional income, just not the savings.

If you have substantial interest from savings and investment… that means you have very substantial savings and investments indeed!!

Well that's quite obvious 😂but it may be that someone inherits a substantial sum to say buy a house but they need time to find and purchase, they stick it in a few accounts and the interest takes them over the threshold.
I can't find myself overly bothered if such a situation occurred especially if they were going from council property/housing benefit payments to a home owner, within a time limit of course.