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?

But in relation to your example of a very large inheritance and interest income… what grey area there?

Agreed. Hundred percent . That’s my point - as I said - unfairness is baked in, so one could pick any number of issues to be unhappy with.

perhaps of different roles socially were valued equally and therefore remunerated, then benefits wouldn’t even be necessary. So if my husband and I both received adequate remuneration for what we do lf value then we probably wouldn’t need to claim any benefit at all. Like the simpler system comment, this is obviously wildly hypothetical but if rethinking anything, one has to start with ideas.

@thismamayogi

if full time mothers were not penalised for making a choice to raise their own kids full

and your choice to have 5 children

so you have had the luxury of choice when it comes to being a SAHM and having 5 children.

and you are horrified and angry that the government don’t hand you more money to support your choices?

Quite unbelievable

So if my husband and I both received adequate remuneration for what we do

So you think your employer should pay him more. Ok, who knows, perhaps your DH is underpaid.

and you think you should be effectively paid by the government for being a SAHM?

Your”DH’s employer” I meant to say

How can you be equally remunerated @thismamayogi when you don't have a job that you get paid for?

She presumably meant from the government in the form of benefits

@Lovelyveg82 that's what I thought but benefits don't "pay" the same as going out to work full time in most cases?

My point. I do have a job. I don’t have the “luxury” of choice - we made a difficult choice - to be poor and for me to stay at home with the children because for us that choice took precedence - we decided to prioritise my being with the kids over having money. So we don’t go on holiday or on outings or buy new clothes or go to restaurants or any of those things. Honestly - there is a lot of reducing things to oversimplified complete nonsense here - not every SAHM has a luxury of choice but made a choice anyway. Not every family with a lot of kids has lots of money - and those who are poor and have lots of kids are very rarely careless freeloading irresponsible idiots - some of us believe children are a gift and a blessing and that we will find a way to make things work regardless, and take responsibility despite not having a lot of money and prefer to build a family to being able to provide things that to others are priorities - these different decisions are all valid but don’t presume to know my motives or circumstances - to be told I am either privileged or expecting others to pay for me on the basis of how many children I have or what I can afford is so unfair and shows such a lack of understanding or imagination. These things have nothing to do with my views on government policy which I maintain tends to be unfair to many.

to be told I am either privileged or expecting others to pay for me on the basis of how many children I have or what I can afford is so unfair

I’ll take you back to your first post

where you say that it’s a horribly unfair system because you “only” receive benefits for two children born after 2017.

You said this.

which rather contradicts the above statement

But you did have a choice, you made the choice to have 5 kids which is absolutely fine if that is what you prioritise and I would never judge anyone for that if that's how they feel. The issue is your initial complaint that you dont get tax credits for more than 2 children, at this point it becomes an issue as you expect to be compensated for your choice by tax payer money. Many of us working would have liked more kids but made the choice not to so that we could support our families, why do you expect us to also support yours?

I don’t have the “luxury” of choice - we made a difficult choice - to be poor and for me to stay at home with the children because for us that choice took precedence

Another contradiction

“I don’t have the “luxury” of choice”

but then…

“We made a difficult choice” )to have 5 children which seriously would impact pretty much any family’s disposable income)

No it doesn’t. Wow. My point is the system is unfair - it is unfair intrinsically that two of my children are counted as valid and three aren’t. That is an unfair government policy. Owt to do with wanting other citizens to pay for me. I’m talking policy - not asking you to come over and give me cash. The policy could be different, and fairer, by restructuring, without putting anyone further out of pocket. its not that hard to grasp - I don’t believe the amount of children I have and whether each of them get a certain government benefit or not is directly correlated to how much tax you pay. I honestly don’t. It’s down to where the government spends the pot they already have. I’d rather the money went tk children, or OP or anything that is useful than the war in Ukraine or to decorate some government minister’s kitchen.

People are not valid or invalid. Arguments can be valid or invalid. Yours is invalid.

@thismamayogi
I can't understand why you say three of your children aren't valid. Are children of patients who don't claim benefits not valid 🤷‍♀️

it is unfair intrinsically that two of my children are counted as valid and three aren’t.

My children’s validity is t dependent on their benefit status 🤷‍♀️

Not dependent

Choice is not a luxury it is a right. Ours was a hard choice, not a luxury. We sacrificed a lot to make that decision. Our choice - not our luxury choice.
I don’t want anyone here to pay for our kids - I want the government to use their money, collects through taxes, more wisely and fairly.
for those with an iota of understanding, I am not being contradictory - we made decisions we stand by and I respect those others have made.

mans to reiterate. I DO work.
anyone who does a job outside the Ho E works damn hard and deserves recognition for that. And their child will
be cared for by a child minder, nursery or school. My work is to care bf r my own children in place of that childcare. How is the work I do less valid than the work of a childcare provide? I care for children full time (I understand all mothers care for their children all the time no matter where they are, I am talking about care as a practical type of work), and I also educate mine. These are choices we made based on priorities and not income or expectation of the same. I don’t understand why a childminder should receive remuneration for a set number of “free childcare hours” from the government, but my own children are disallowed an equal portion of tax credits each.

anyway. Alternatively I am a clueless oik expecting to freeload off the hard work of others and i should cross my legs and belt up. O, and apologise. For choosing to have children I love and care for and work hard to raise well.
I made the tax credits point to concur with OP that there is systemic injustice in our benefits system.
if there was no benefits system at all we would still have chosen to have our family and to structure it as we do.

if there was no benefits system at all we would still have chosen to have our family and to structure it as we do.

and what sort of life do you think you’d have provided your children without any of the benefits you receive given on another thread you outline how you are basically on the poverty line and you can’t afford beds for your children?

none of us have beds. So myself and DH also on mattress on floor. We are breadline and have never been able to afford it, but we are all happy with mattresses on the floor.

and yet you say that you still would have had five children even if you received no benefits whatsoever? I can’t fathom making that choice when even with hundreds of pounds of benefits a month (CB and UC) you can’t afford beds for your children

Do you actually not have proper beds for your children?

I suggest we have a whipround for tiny violins.

You would have had an overpayment anyway even if the claim was closed in august. Tax credits look at tax year income and so your increased earnings over the whole year would affect the earlier payments you received.

In other words, HMRC are correct and there is nothing to dispute as they didn’t do anything wrong. That is how tax credits were designed. They always take your full tax year income into account (pro rated) even if the claim closes mid way in the year

According to a thread last month. No one in the family does