Just had a letter telling us owe tax credits £14000 by June

[Buzzybee1983]

Well three letters to be exact saying totalling to £14k. Totally out of blue. They want to be paid in full by 26th June.

2 years ago dh lost his job and I was only earning a pittance self employed.

They put us on maximum tax credit of £180 per week (including some wtc)

I think dh got a job about after 6 months of unemployment.

They never at any point said the money was a "loan", we were entitled to it- so why now ask for it back- the entice lot?

We had a letter last year saying we owed £14k. We questioned it as even 12 months payment of £180 per week only adds up to the £9k mark but it was never broken down for us. They also said not to overly worry as they would deduct it from future payments. I still dont know where this figure has come from.

I phoned them this morning straight away and they say we cannot dispute it and suggested we get a bank loan! My dh is only on a temporary contract, we have no savings.

I have no idea what to do

If 3 letters have arrived at once are they genuine? Why have they not dealt with this earlier? Can you find the original correspondence? Get all the paperwork together then contact the CAB

Woah. Scary! That is a lot.

I dont understand why they want all of it back, maybe half if they are counting the six months after when yiur dh was employed again as would have been entitled to less again.

Tax credits are a nightmare for sending out loads of different letters on the same day, with differing amounts and no indication of how they arrived at those amounts.

I would call and write to them telling them you are disputing it. Get together all the paperwork you've ever received from them and make a request for copies of all phone calls you've had with them that have been recorded.

They have to tell you where that figure has come from and why you owe it.

Do you think they believe you have been continuing to recieve the payment for 2 years - so the sum is roughly 104x£108 less the 6 months you were entitled to?

That calculation would be roughly £14k.

Sorry that should be £180 a week. The numbers almost add up then.

We had an overpayment of I think it was child tax payments that we wrongly got years ago. We updated the info and they wrongly input the info hence receiving about £5000 extra.
I downloaded a form from the martin Lewis website and as a result we didn't have to pay it back and even got sent a cheque for the amount they had recovered by stopping payments

The following is a quote from the Citizens Advice Website Adviceguide:

Overpayments of tax credits
If you are getting tax credits and have been told that you have been overpaid, there are some situations in which the Inland Revenue may not recover the overpayment. This is usually when they have made certain types of mistake.

The Inland Revenue has designed a form to help them decide whether to recover an overpayment. If you think you have had an overpayment of tax credit which should not be recovered, you should ask the Inland Revenue to send you one of these forms by calling 0845 900 0404.

We could have so easily just sent a cheque
Good luck

Did you let them know he got a job after 6 months or did you continue receiving maximum for 2 years?

Thank you for the replies.

Yes we definitely told them dh was back in work as thats where the problem is. They said on the phone you told us he would have an income of £1900 for 2012 (I assume that was JSA) but really you had £30k so we need it back. But that AFTER six months of unemoloyment.

Why do they want it all back- why the whole years worth?

Also on letter from a year ago its says £1012 has already been collected back and £11925 we be collected back under section 29 of Tax credits act.

So

1. Where has 14k come from
2. They state a year ago some money has been collected already now claim nothing has at all (plus they had whole year of 2013 to get some back through future awards)
3. Why are the asking for 6 months of £180 pw when we were entitled to it?

1. Why are the saying the will collect it under 2002 act now suddenly give us a months notice to give them 14K!

So did he earn £30k in the 6 months of the year that he was employed?

No, I believe the job he got was £38.5k so half of that for the remaining 6 months

Urgh - kick up a stink.

My MP helped me in similar circs (I was entitled to the money - but I had somehow not understood that I had to sign something annually - they sat on their hands for ages - then tried to claim everything back at once )

I have just phoned them to complain about everything and a specialist is calling me back later.

They way they have handled this is appalling.

I

Agree with you. I really cant see how you would owe them that much.

You cant just send a letter telling someone give me £14k by June with no explanation! I will let you know how I get on. If anyone else is having similar problems feel free to pm me, its pretty stressful.

Of course you have the right to appeal! What idiots!

If you tell them the date you informed them about your change in circumstances they will have to go back and listen to recording of conversation.

Hi OP I had similar albeit a far smaller amount. What I did was to put together a spreadsheet showing source and amount of income for each tax year. I pasted the table into a strongly worded letter explaining the situation which I sent to them with copies of our P60s for those years. It was pretty obvious they'd made an error in our case as they had me down as earning 92k in the year I was on mat leave. Turned out thurs paid us correctly at the time but somehow the wrong figure 'appeared' on their system after the event.

I feel utterly drained. Got off the phone to them at 8pm.

They have explained it no further, and say we might be able to dispute but possibly not. Still can't account for why its as high as £14k.

They told us unless we paid a amount ASAP even while disputing them they would pass it onto a debt agency. They initially wanted £200 PCM which is unaffordable, so they made us go through every last detail of our finances.

It was really humiliating. We have to pay them at least £60 PCM for now. I feel like a criminal. I despise Tax credits and wish we had never applied.

Awful. They should at least be able to account for why it's so high.

Can you get a solicitor? It doesn't sound right to me.

Contact them in writing with notes of that call.
Ask for al in writing and a breakdown.
As nooner had been able to tell y how this bill has been calculated you refuse to make payment other than at one pound a week until you are certain you owe them this.

Get this moved to legal for some fab advice.

Was the award after you dh got back to work the same/similar to what you had been receiving when he was in work?
Did you carry on receiving the £180 after your dh got a job.?

If so you should have known this was too much and there was a good chance at some point they would want it back.

How long after your dh getting the job did they carry on paying it?
Is it until now?