To expect HMRC not to pursue tax credit overpayments from 18 years ago

[saveforthat]

My friend ( whose youngest child is 28) has received a letter from HMRC today saying she owes them £2000 from 2005. She actually remembers this and has kept some paperwork, they made a mistake and she has an apology letter from them from 2006 but who else keeps records so long? Has anyone else had to deal with something like this?

She knew since 2006 she owed HMRC £2k and did nothing?
Of course they are going to want to be paid back.

Why shouldn't she pay it back?

So they thought she owed 2k then apologised and said she didn't? I definitely have kept the letter saying I didn't

You did not even read the OP.

I would take legal advice but think they may be estopped from pursuing it because she relied on the letter of apology saying she didn't owe it.

I don't understand. So they acknowledged and apologized for the mistake in 2006 but didn't try and get the money back then?

I had to pay back some tax credits when I claimed universal credit despite being told repeatedly by HMRC that I didn't owe them a thing. UC told me I had to call debt recovery as they are the only ones who can sort it out and they never answered the phone, it would just cut off after an hour. I had no way of stopping them from taking the money.

I think she doesn’t actually owe the money? They said she did in 2005, then apologised and said she didn’t in 2006, and now have decided she does again.

Can you even read?

@saveforthat good job she kept the letter! It's the sort of letter I'd keep for ages then chuck after a decade 😬

They told her in 2006 that they overpaid her (they didn't). She had a letter of apology acknowledging their error. Then nothing until today. I was just thinking even if someone did owe them money why was it not followed up until 18 years later. No wonder this country is in the state it is.

they made a mistake and she has an apology letter from them from 2006
Thats good - it's her evidence that they made a mistake and that she doesn't actually owe them anything.

but who else keeps records so long?
Not many people would keep records for 17 years so it would be quite difficult to follow up in those circumstances.

I'd make a SARS request. A copy of the letter should be in the information they send.

Yes I have nothing from 18 years ago except birth certificates and the like. She kept it because there were so many errors made with her payments, she went through her MP in the end.

I did this when they made an error on my payment. Got it overturned with the evidence in my SARS request.

I keep all letters from hmrc and p45s and the end of year pay slips specifically because hmrc and the pensions people have been known to make mistakes and its very hard to make your case if you don’t have the paperwork. Wasn’t there a scandal where loads of women weren’t given the correct pensions? It all goes in one binder.

They made a mistake in telling her she needed to repay them or the mistake was in overpaying her but she still owed it.

I did. I’ve had such a letter that says, sorry due to an error we have overpaid you and you owe a debt of ££££.

Apology letter doesn’t mean they don’t want their money back.

Yes this is correct. I wasn't clear enough. I can see now this could have been read more than one way. I'm just amazed they are looking at it now. Maybe they have taken on more staff to pursue old cases.

Thank you because it wasn’t clear, as I said when they overpay due to an error on their part they do apologise but they still want the money back. 😅

I don't know if there's any statute of limitation on tax, I've certainly kept all mine from when I started working, so circa 25 years ago. Suggest to her she makes a SARS request to see the reason they think she's underpaid and if they previously informed her she didn't owe it you might be able to rely on that. Though from experience if it's your fault or theirs you still end up paying any overpayment/tax owed back.

There's no time limit on government debt unfortunately.

Its a long time, but a tactic used sometimes is to wait until you are likely to be able to afford to pay it back. I used to work in debt advice, and we saw this sort of thing reasonably regularly, particularly with mortgage companies.

I work for HMRC and yes they would expect it to be paid back. Tell your friend to call and set up a payment plan called Time To Pay if she cannot afford to clear in one go.

Yeah see I'd keep something like that too

OK I know my original post was not clear but please read my updates. She wasn't overpaid. She owes nothing.