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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is DISGRACEFUL! Massive tax credits overpayment!

355 replies

CrumblingKnees · 11/03/2023 15:57

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?

OP posts:
liveforsummer · 12/03/2023 07:48

It's shot but it's how it works. Reading the letters wouldn't have changed the outcome but at least you'd have been prepared.

Glitteratitar · 12/03/2023 08:51

You’ve not been penalised OP. That is absolute nonsense. You were overpaid. You were paid more in a financial year than you were entitled to and now you need to pay it back. You were not penalised in any way. Stop blaming everyone else rather than taking ownership of your own lack of knowledge of tax credits.

Hellocatshome · 12/03/2023 08:52

OP you have responded to the people questioning why you are now able to work and why you didn't open the letters which is not actually the point.

How about responding to the people who have helpfully explained to you how tax credits works, why you actually have had an overpayment and how you should go about arranging a payment plan so it doesn't cause too much financial hardship paying it back.

Oblomov23 · 12/03/2023 10:03

You do owe the money back, you have been overpaid. Don't avoid it any longer, deal with it head on, you will then feel relief.
Phone them and agree a payment plan. Ask what the longest term is that you can pay it back. If they say eg 2 years that's £19.23 a week. Ask them to set up a direct debit. End of.

tunamayo81 · 12/03/2023 10:05

callthataspade · 12/03/2023 05:19

Odd. People aren't rude because they're all trying to help you.

You've stubbornly ignored what everyone's trying to tell you. And putting it in CAPITAL LETTERS doesn't make it any more factual.

Good luck with that.

Have you read the whole thread? a lot
of people have been condescending and not helpful. Even if OP was mistaken and does owe the money, it takes nothing to be kind and not everyone has been.

Beezknees · 12/03/2023 10:05

This is actually why I prefer UC. I've been a claimant for 15 years and have no overpayment issues with UC as it's month by month rather than calculated over a whole year.

callthataspade · 12/03/2023 10:07

@tunamayo81 yes I have. Actually a lot of people were very helpfully trying to point out the tax year. Very politely and quite clearly I thought.

The op just ignored all that and accused everyone of being dicks.

People are just responding in kind.

Lovelyveg82 · 12/03/2023 11:32

If they try to tell you something but you think it's OK to ignore them, you have to be prepared to accept the consequences.

this with bells on

and given the op resolutely ignored multiple letters and somehow blames HMRC, it’s no surprise how she is responding to posters on this thread!

Lovelyveg82 · 12/03/2023 11:36

2 lessons learned op

  1. open post, especially from the HMRC
  2. check bank account for transactions and reconcile
Babyroobs · 12/03/2023 11:44

CrumblingKnees · 12/03/2023 01:02

Wow, such nasty people on this forum. Must have sad little lives.

DH has always worked. I had to give up my career as twins had disabilities (excuse me for not putting them into SS care so I could continue working!). They still need care and lots of support now as adults but as we lost TC when they left education, I had to find some way of covering the shortfall while still being at home for them and luckily got a wfh job while also still being a carer! We nearly lost youngest DC last summer to an unrelated condition and he also needs ongoing care and getting up in the night to treat him (never been so exhausted since they were babies) so No when I saw thick envelopes from tax credits, knowing we no longer had a claim and thinking it was just the normal 10 page letter saying we had no entitlement, I tossed them in a cabinet!

It honestly didn’t occur to me that by getting a job to cover the income that we’d lost, I’d be penalised!

Show quote history

Are you aware that your twins now they are not in education, can claim UC themselves if they are unable to work ? this is not an insignificant amount assuming they qualify for the LCWRA element also. This x 2 would go a long way to plugging the gap of what you have lost form tax credits. In fact likely to be significantly more money coming into the household. I know it would be their money but they could contribute, maybe even pay you something extra for caring for them to top up carers allowance.

DaisyBoop · 12/03/2023 12:40

Just very firmly say that you can only pay £1 a month back. They’ll negotiate up and it’ll take a while but you can sort it. TC is a horrible system.

liveforsummer · 12/03/2023 12:48

DaisyBoop · 12/03/2023 12:40

Just very firmly say that you can only pay £1 a month back. They’ll negotiate up and it’ll take a while but you can sort it. TC is a horrible system.

They'll probably say no and just hit you with a DEO on your wages, if they are anything like DWP

Quveas · 12/03/2023 13:11

CrumblingKnees · 11/03/2023 16:11

I WAS NOT PAID MORE THAN WE WERE ENTITLED TO.

Payments were correct up to August. They added on my work income FROM NOVEMBER AFTER payments ended and we were no longer entitled to tax credits.

Seriously!

YES YOU WERE PAID MORE THAN YOU WERE ENTITLED TO - and shouting about it doesn't change that. As was explained several times, the figure used for the calculation is the annual household income, and by going out to work you increased that income - so you owe them the money. I am sorry if this is difficult to understand, but you might have understood it had you read the letters that they sent to you. It's an awful system yes, but the only other alternative is to not pay anything unless it is paid in arrears, which would then mean waiting for a year before getting any payments.

And you final post is frankly appalling and downright nasty, insulting people who have gone out of their way to explain why you are in error. It seems that letters are not the only thing that you don't read - you also don't read posts advising you how and why you have erred and how to deal with it.

It is and always has been the responsibility of claimants to read and understand the terms of the benefits they receive, and screaming and shouting because you didn't bother to do so is childish. You are supposed to be a grown up, so perhaps try acting like one and taking responsibility?

WeeBenny · 12/03/2023 13:35

Just ignore them. Tax credits have been writing to me every April since 2014 saying I owe nearly £4000 then I hear nothing again until the following year.

Hellocatshome · 12/03/2023 13:41

WeeBenny · 12/03/2023 13:35

Just ignore them. Tax credits have been writing to me every April since 2014 saying I owe nearly £4000 then I hear nothing again until the following year.

Not a great idea. They will eventually catch up with their back log and do an attachment of earnings.

DrMarciaFieldstone · 12/03/2023 14:03

WeeBenny · 12/03/2023 13:35

Just ignore them. Tax credits have been writing to me every April since 2014 saying I owe nearly £4000 then I hear nothing again until the following year.

Really, really, don’t do this

OnlyFannys · 12/03/2023 14:19

Tbf opening the letters from HMRC wouldnt have made any difference unless on balance OP decided to leave her job as it would still have been an overpayment

Changethenamey · 12/03/2023 14:34

Came here to explain that TC are based on a forecasted yearly income from April-April so they are absolutely right you have been overpaid…. but I can see many others have tried to explain to no avail 🙃

I have a love/hate relationship with tax credits and dread the letter every year because I’m sure they make it up as they go along!

Lovelyveg82 · 12/03/2023 16:21

Tell you what Op

root out all those unopened letters
open them
and….

READ THEM

then hopefully unlikely tbh you will understand that you have been paid more than you were entitled to

Doingtheboxerbeat · 12/03/2023 17:16

WeeBenny · 12/03/2023 13:35

Just ignore them. Tax credits have been writing to me every April since 2014 saying I owe nearly £4000 then I hear nothing again until the following year.

Literally did the same back in 2003 when they told me I owed them £900 due to overpayment - I had received no more than £120 from them in total. I was expected to go down miles of yellow brick road in appeals, which I wasn't prepared to do . I ignored it and never heard from them again - I just assumed they realised their massively stupid mistake and quietly tiptoed away 🤭.

SalmonKnicks · 12/03/2023 17:18

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines - previously banned poster.

Teatotal2 · 12/03/2023 17:54

CrumblingKnees · 11/03/2023 16:08

We didn’t receive any payments from August that year @Ilikewinter . As far as I was aware claim had stopped as we were not entitled. I started work in November 3 months after payments ended.

Have I not explained it clearly enough?

The claim is over a tax year though, so your income would have been considered regardless, they do not completely close down claim until tax year ends.
I understand it is galling, and have been there too. Just do as others have suggested and negotiate the lowest monthly repayment amount you can.

linsey2581 · 12/03/2023 17:54

That’s your own fault for not opening the letters. I was overpaid on carers allowance and I called to say that I no longer wanted to claim as I was earning over the threshold but for some reason it didn’t stop and I was over paid by £1000 and eventually got the letter stating I needed to pay it back. I paid it back as they took it from my wages. When you see a latter from HMRC you open it.

Doggate1 · 12/03/2023 18:01

You ignored the letters and the rules and are hoping that they should bend the rules for you. It is your responsibility to be financially astute and know what you are entitled to . If you don’t inform them of a change or miss a deadline and you are overpaid… you have to pay it back.

MissHoneysHappyEnding · 12/03/2023 18:08

Everyone I ever know who has claimed tax credits has been overpaid and had to pay it back. It's a crap system.
The only people who defend it are people who have never claimed. When you are being overpaid you have no idea you are being overpaid. They just give you a figure with no explanation of how they have calculated it and why.
My grandad was a senior accountant for the civil service (not DWP) and used to sit down with me to work it out and even he could never understand it.
That's why it's being phased out for UC which is still maddening but at least I don't think it's as easy to be overpaid by thousands due to the live system.