tax credits again

[DearestMommy]

Can i just ask. I have fallen foul of the dreaded working and child tax credit system of overpayment. Seemingly I owe them £1,300 or thereabouts. This is despite me filling in the form correctly, proving proof earnings and waiting over 3 months for them to assess my claim!

They are now threatening me with debt collections agencies, bailiffs, public humiliation and removal of my household belongings if I don't pay up.

I have been through it all. Written to my local MP who has taken it up with George Osborne etc etc. The way they treat people that, through no fault of their own,owe HMRC money, like common criminals is deplorable.
But the most alarming thing is just about everyone I have spoken to have either been exposed to this exact same problem or have a close friend or relative going through it too.

Can I ask for a straw poll of just how many here on MN are going through this. Perhaps write some of your experiences. Let me know the kind of letters you have received. I received a letter from Osborne stating that the system was being reviewed and adjusted to simplify, improve the service, but no word about how they are going to improve the system to stop this overpayments problem.

For my part I claimed in July 2013 but was assessed on my earnings for 2012 and 2013 . I went from part time to full time in November 2012 and they received my pay slips showing full time work and annual income and monthly income. But they still advise me in September 2013 what I am to receive after apparently taking over 3 months to assess me. It turns out that they just assess you on the last P60!!! That takes 3 months apparently! If you wait that long and they write and tell you that you have been assessed to receive that much, it is surely natural to assume that is right? Is it not natural to have spent all that money (why else why do you need it?).

And then they have the cheek to threaten you and point out that it is your fault because you didn't query the amount you had been awarded. And that you have been sooooo wealthy from their overpayment that you saved it all up just in case they were to discover their mistake over a year later!

It's like somoe sort of madness. Can we have a petition to say that we don't want an HMRC to pick us us. night night all.

Hi op, has this being going on for a few years or have they only recently let you know?

Many years ago when we received tax credits we were overpaid despite keeping them updated with earnings. We then reached an income level where we no longer got any tax credits and had a £1k overpayment which they demanded back. I rang them and said no way could we pay this in one go. They agree for us to repay £25 a month over3 years which was manageable. We were never threatened with debt collectors , bailiffs etc.

I've been pretty lucky I think as I've never had any overpayments after ten years of being on tax credits. It's always been fairly straightforward for me as I'm on income support so I don't supply any income details, there is just a box to tick on the form and it's renewed every year without me having to supply any documents. My friends who have had lots of hassle with tax credits overpayments have all been getting them when working, those on IS and other benefits have tended to have fuss-free renewals. Seems very harsh as it's even harder to manage to find time to deal with the nightmare paperwork if you have a job as well!

We owe 1400 in overpayment from 2015/16 Similarly to you we kept them upto date with everything but somehow they still paid us too much.

Working on previous years earnings throws the whole thing out so much that I don't know why they can't ask for estimated earings for the current tax year and work it from that!!

I'm not in work at the moment but our payments are less than they were last year when I was working a 30hr week (even without the extra we received in overpayments) It makes no sense at all.

I have just been told I have an overpayment and they wanted to take three quarters of my payments a week to cover it. I rang and said no and now have to wait for someone to call me to discuss it (sometime in the next week) no direct line etc.... it's always such a worry.

I think this is partly why Universal credit is being introduced, to simpliy things and avoid overpayments.