To be absolutely furious with dp for not sorting out his tax credits.....

[littleduck]

........ so now he is faced with having to pay back a lot of money which we don't have.

His circumstances changed in 2009/10 - he says he called them to explain the situation and they said fine, they'd send paperwork, but this never arrived and what with Babyduck and me going back to work and his life being fairly manic it slipped his mind (he says).

Top and bottom of it was that paperwork never arrived, because had slipped his mind he never chased. He has followed it up now and they have no records of his initial call (hmmm). They have cut his tax credits from the date his circs changed to nil, without then taking into account he would have been entitled to slightly more credits following the change of circs than he was being paid before the change!!!!

Apparently they can only backdate changes by 93 days so this leaves a big hole where they have reduced his credits to nil and are demanding repayment. It seems we can write to explain the situation, and that taking into account the changes he should actually have had more credits than he received, but HMRC are not obliged to do anything.

I can live without having the additional credits, we have managed for this long, but we can't manage a repayment in the sum they are asking. Even payment over a 12 month period is more per month than we have spare.

This could all have been avoided if DP had just bloody well kept an eye on the situation, but no....

We are really strapped for money anyway and this is the last thing we need.

I am not a happy camper

Oh dear god your post fills me with fear. My DH is self employed and was supposed to let me know if he thought his earning for 09/10 were going to be significantly different from 08/09. He still doesn't know (he just gives everything to his accountant and waits for a number) but having managed to wheedle out his gross earnings from him I fear we will be asked to pay back alot and similarly we do not have it. Yikes!

Monkeychicken - I feel your pain.

He says he didn't mention that he had called them initially as he thought I had enough stress with Babyduck and the prospect of imminently going back to work, but if he had told me I would have made sure it was sorted out and not just left as it's a damned sight more stressful now!!!!

Yet another reason why tax credits should be abolished and tax allowances increased.

Either partner can sort out tax credits. DH is self-employed and they have never even spoken to him in years if ever!

I just give them his income figures every year and "he" gets WTC and "I" get the CTC into our joint account.

But I did have an overpayment from years ago when WFTC was paid, it was paid to your employer if you remember and I stopped work during the tax year. I was a lone parent then.

Big mix-up and instead of me for the next few years of being an unemployed lone-parent surviving on "what the government says you need to live on", due to tax credits clawing back I was existing on rather less than that even though I had no help at all

So I do understand. Hope you get it sorted and that you take take charge of it from now on!

If you agree with the figure they say you owe, send them an income and expenditure sheet showing what you CAN realistically afford and offer that amount. These things are nearly always negotiable and if you make a "reasonable offer" (reasonable offer could be 50p depending on your circumstances if it is all you can genuinely afford) they should accept it. If not, and they take further action to recover it is viewed very dimly within the legal system to have refused a reasonable offer.

This is the reason I deal with all finances dh is self employed and I do all the book-keeping, accountants etc I am currently having a nightmare with the tax credit office been trying to give them the correct figures since beginning of April and it's still coming back wrong.
I'd definately say deal with it yourself that way you know its done.

I don't believe he phoned them.

Tax credits can do almost everything over the phone, it is very unusual for them to send paperwork for completion, other than the annual review.

YANBU

Check your phone bill for the time he says he called them - you can get backdated statements. This will help you if you can prove you informed them of the change.

They take your changes over the phone and send you a sheet to confirm the new figures. I have never known them have to send out paperwork. Which is not to say they don't of course. But worth checking out the procedure from them.

I hate tax credits.

SE is right the paperwork is just the new amount. They do make mistakes my renewal says I rang 29/11/09 to tell them I no longer paid childcare when I actually rang just to give new provider details. When I rang I discovered that have been paying correctly

explain and don't back down. Get your phone co to provide proof you called them etc. You can beat tax credits if you are patient. If they have not changed details then they are at fault and get your MP involved.

The only concern I would have is that paperwork didn't arrive but as its not something you or dh have to sign I would think your safe.

best of luck

This my fear and as dh has become self empolyed (one month) it terrifies me. I have over egged his salary this year slightly so that we won't owe them anything. The basing it on the year stuff is the biggest amount of poo because when you're circumstances change dramatically they can't seem to cope with the idea that you need the money more now rather than next year.

"I dont understand, what are they asking you to pay back if he'd have been due more post change than pre change? "

I wondered this too

Thanks for all your replies - for those who wonder why they are asking for a payment back if we would have been due more post change than pre change - they haven't yet confirmed what we would have been due post change but I have an estimated figure based on phone call with tax credit helpline which they will confirm.

The big problem is the length of time it has been left. As the change happened over 9 months ago and they can backdate only up to 93 days we effectively have a gap of 6 months when his circs had changed but HMRC did not have the details of the new circs. Once they are aware we can apparently ask for what would have been due under the new circs to be offset against what they say he owes but they are not under any obligation to do it.

Bloody nightmare. I have had various dealings with the self assessment side of HMRC in my work - I thought that was bad enough but this beats the self assessment system hands down for hassle and stress.