HMRC Claiming Tax Credit Overpayment!! - Please Help!

[AnnieBeansMum]

My DH and I moved to Canada in June and informed everyone of the move. We received confirmation from HMRC of our change of address and we thought everything was sorted.

We came to Canada with very little money (all of which is now gone). My DH is working, but I have been unable to secure employment. We are living on an extremely tight budget and usually have about $5 or $10 left every week (providing we don't need the expensive items when we do our grocery shopping).

I was at my mom's house this weekend and there was a letter there from HMRC saying they had overpaid us £1263.46 and that payment is due on or before 27 November!! First, I am confused as hell why there is an overpayment - I was extremely cautious to ensure I kept them updated about all changes to our circumstances. This dates back to 06 July 2009 - why wasn't this found before now??

With the exchange rate, the amount due is more than DH takes home in a month!!! I am terrified. We have no money to pay this, and I have no idea when we will have any money. What do I do? As horrible as it sounds, they have our old address in Canada, what are the chances of them chasing payment to Canada if I don't pay? Please, I need some advice.

Also, we only have a mobile phone (for emergencies) as we cannot afford a landline. I do not have an international plan on the mobile so cannot call HMRC. I have been trying to find an e-mail address to contact them, and cannot find anything. Can anyone help?

Thank you.

My mum is having the same thing, she's a pensioner on a limited income. There has been quite a bit in the media about this - look at the forum on Martin Lewis's website.

They want £1800 from my mum, thats twice her monthly income. Loads of people are affected. The HMRC have fucked up in a lot of cases and not applied the right tax code, they are allowed to go back years and claim this money. In my mum's case its her pension provider who has messed up, they were given the tax code but didn't apply the right one. Tax office have a new computer system apparantly that has found all these cases out. Now if its your employer or your pension providor that hasn't applied the tax code people are saying that legally they are liable for it. Mum has written to the HMRC telling them to take it up with her pension provider. Not heard back yet so don't know if it would work.

I really don't think they would chase you to Canada, not if they only have your old address as well. But if you ever came back to the UK then they'd soon catch up with you, and charge interest I'd have thought!

email adress for them here, but once you've made contact they'll know that you know about it.

email

Sorry I should have said, this is for a supposed overpayment for Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

Thank you for the information VivaLeBeaver. I just don't know whether I could simply ignore it - it's the easy option, but I think it would play on my mind.

I'd have thought that you could come to some agreement about paying it back in installments. But they would charge you interest, I think at 3%.

Bastards! I may have to harden my heart to them and just accidentally lose the letter. If it's not my current address I could claim that I never received it, couldn't I?

I feel bad about it, but we are SO broke after emigrating and I just can't see how we can afford to pay it back.

The problem is AnnieBeansMum, if you ever returned to the UK and as soon as one of you started working again in this country you'll be "found" as they can track you through your National Insurance number so if there is every a likelihood of you coming back and working here I genuinely would not ignore it.

We have moved to Canada permanently minibmw2010, so that in itself is not an issue. That being said, I have a major issue with defaulting on anything and it doesn't sit right with me to just ignore it. We are absolutely broke though and we barely have enough money to do our food shopping, let alone repaying such a huge amount of money.

Does anyone else have any views or advice?

I would consider asking MN to delete this thread, just in case an employee of HMRC reads it and can track you down.

Lucinda - can't see how HMRC could track down Op as she has not given her canadian address on this thread.

Have you tried:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/ContactOrDealWithHMRC/DG_10014875

This website has phone numbers and addresses.

Have you checked your bank account in UK to see if they actually did pay the money in somewhere?

You could write them a letter and explain your side. Atleast then they will hear from you by the deadline and you can give your very good reasons why you couldn't possibly owe them the money.

Stewie, Please read the original post carefully.

The other point may be that if your earnings in the current tax year from UK sources were less than your Allowances for this tax year HMRC may owe you a rebate on tax deducted by PAYE.

I had this. I told them my earnings. Questioned the amount they said i was entitled to. They confirmed it was correct. 18 months later they said that I wasn't in fact entitled to tc and I should have known this! Tried to fight it but got nowhere. Am paying an amount back per month and will be for years.

Even though there is a payment plan in place they still send me threatening letters saying I must pay the entire amount within 28 days. Apparently they are computer generated and they can't stop them. I make sure I keep copies of my bank statements which proves i am paying.

Stewie, IF you will insist on "speed reading" Please try to get some understanding of the basic facts. and stewie please stop picking on me.

Thanks everyone for your messages. I know it is probably very unlikely that they will track us down - but it makes me uncomfortable having outstanding debt.

I can't call them or the CAB as mentioned in the OP - I only have a mobile and it doesn't have international calling on the plan.

As dishonest as it is, I am going to ignore the letter for now. Provided I get a job, I should be able to save up this money in 3 or 4 months. I will then call them (from my mom's) and explain that I have just received their letter as it went to my old address. I'll just pay it off then.

Lucinda - we have already had our PAYE tax rebates.