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

They wanted me to pay back 17k. I did not pay a thing. I corresponded with letters, told them I was disputing their claim, and gave them the dates where I had told them of my change of circumstances. They had to go back in to their phone records to listen to old tapes. This confirmed that I had not only given correct information, but been misinformed too.

Did you tell them straight away when your cicumstances changed again ?
I had something similar like this happen to me a few years ago i had a letter saying we owed the tax credits £4000 .

iI hadnt changed anything apart from address i contacted them straight away and they knew nothing about it and told me to ignore them which i did .i had about 6 of these letters come through then the threatening court and baliff letters started from them even tho id been told to ignore then they stopped our payments .

Luckily I kept all my award notices since I first claimed tax credits and all the letters they sent me i photocopied them and with a written letter of complaint I finaly got a answer why they thought i owed them they were claiming we didnt have any children . we had 2 :|

I got a apology letter in the end and our money was paid to us in a lump sum which they had stopped
i would definatly check on your award notices that all your children are listed and write a letter to the head office asking for a explaination to why they think you owe them so much .
hope you get it sorted

I had a letter asking for 20k overpayment of child tax credit. I don't have children and never claimed child tax credit, though I had applied for working tax credit, it took over a year to resolve and turned out in the end to be identity theft, and much worse than 'just' 20k.

Ask them how they calculated that amount and a breakdown of all earnings/taxes etc. that's the only way to get to the bottom of it, try your local tax office as well as your mp.

In my case they tried to take me to court, even though I could prove it wasn't me claiming it, it was resolved by total coincidence of me going into my bank same day person was in theirs pretending to be me, yeh I know you couldn't make it up.

I'm not saying it's the same for you but you must get full breakdown statements from them to show what they think you have had from them and when and what for, just to be sure. Be warned it will be a lot of paperwork!!!