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Original poster

Tax credits investigation

106 replies

Abbeyo123 · 26/02/2017 00:34

I would just like to know if anyone has ever been investigated by tax credits I have got to send them a years worth of bank statements wage slips childcare receipts as they have sent me two seperate letters one to say they need to check my tax credits, the only issue I have is I have let someone use my bank and over the year £11,000 was paid into the account by them but it was not my money nor did I earn a single penny from it I would just take the money out and hand it over to he's partner as he was away a lot and I thought I would do them a favour I'm absolutely terrified that they are going to think it was my money and it definatelt wast I work part time doing 25 hours per week and rely on the extra from tax credits to help me with my finances bills nursery fees etc it is just me and my little boy I suffer with anxiety and haven't slept in almost 4 days since receiving this letter !! It makes it even worse that I have tried to ring the person who put the money in to my account and I cannot get hold of him as I say he's away a lot and I don't no how to explain this I don't want tax credits to think this is my income or has benefited me in anyway shape or form?? If my tax credits stopped or I'm investigated I'm worried that my
Housin benefit that I receive will be effected and I will lose my home if anyone has every been in the same situation any advice would be appreciated

OP posts:
Glossolalia · 26/02/2017 10:33

Oh OP Sad

These people aren't or friends. They are taking advantage of you.

I suspect, like PP's that they have done this to stop her having any issues with her benefits.

I'm not sure what would happen if you reported it, would her benefits be stopped? I wonder if DWP would be more interested in someone trying to manipulate the system and take advantage of someone's naivety, rather than someone who was the victim of a scam.

Glossolalia · 26/02/2017 10:34

leggit but once they have them?

LottieL · 26/02/2017 10:38

Speak to your bank and tell them that someone is putting money into your account unauthorised. They will stop it and return the funds to the original bank account, and likely flag an investigation. At least then you would have had a paper trail where you had tried to put a stop to it.
Doing what was asked, accepting the money and passing it on has left the OP complicit in fraud.

CactusFred · 26/02/2017 10:42

It sounds to me that you have been colluding in helping someone else commit fraud and that's as culpable as committing the fraud yourself.

You deserve to be investigated and possibly prosecuted for being so incredibly stupid.

SouthWestmom · 26/02/2017 10:46

If you didn't think it was a problem why do you now think it is? Or was it not a problem because you thought you wouldn't get investigated?

Tbh (I'm glad a pp had professional experience and maybe able to reassure you) it just sounds like some sort of scam.

mojitomint · 26/02/2017 10:59

We have been investigated and it was fine, sent bank statements and all was ok and payments continued as normal but we weren't hiding money for anyone!

lonelysaddo · 26/02/2017 11:03

Sorry to jump in on the thread but it's made me worry about something I do Confused

My parents took out our car loan as they have a far better credit rating so is saving us a couple of thousand in interest. The payment comes out their bank on the 1st and the same day I transfer the £600 to cover it with the reference "saddos car"

Are we doing anything wrong in this case? I am on tax credits (joint claim with dh) but my parents claim nothing and are both still in full time employment. Are we doing anything wrong?

lonelysaddo · 26/02/2017 11:07

Have just realised I've left myself open for a roasting for having such high car payments while on tax credits so can I just add we are skinning ourselves over a short period to pay it off quickly and dh is employed full time and the only reason we get any (small amount) tax credits is because one dc is registered disabled so we get some kind of disability element that we otherwise wouldn't have got any tax credits.

SuperFlyHigh · 26/02/2017 11:09

Agreed with Cactus OP also says this has been happening for over a year so basically she isn't the innocent party here, if she'd really wanted it to stop she'd have closed that bank account opened a new one and not let these "friends" use it.

She must have known it was a form of money laundering and despite her protestations I'm struggling as to why someone would let others do this for "nothing".

Hope you're investigated and prosecuted OP.

SuperFlyHigh · 26/02/2017 11:10

LottieL if the bank look into this they'll discover it's been going on for a year. It's not like it's "just happened".

BarbaraofSeville · 26/02/2017 11:14

I don't think so Saddo (I'm sure you're not btw) as it is all above board and through bank accounts.

The difference with the OP is that it sounds like the friend/her ex (sorry I'm not sure exactly what the OPs relationship to the bloke who sends the money because he works away) is supporting his current girlfriend but she is claiming tax credits as if she is a single parent.

So the money she gets from him via the OP is 'untraceable' as she gets it in cash (if she is investigated, they might spot it anyway - I heard a story about a tax investigation into someone who ran a business where a lot of their receipts were in cash.

The investigation looked at their books and all their accounts and said 'well everything seems to be in order, but one question - you never seem to buy any food?'.

Investigators know what normal spending patterns for typical households are, so will look for evidence of what is missing from what they are shown, it would be very easy to spend a few hundred quid a month in cash on food/fuel/bus fairs/school dinners etc etc.

lonelysaddo · 26/02/2017 11:16

Ok thank you. My parents are the most boring above board people you'll ever meet I was having a mild heart attack that I may have got them involved in money laundering Blush

LottieL · 26/02/2017 11:16

Super, my post was in answer to a previous poster who asked what the OP could have done once her 'friend' had her bank account details, I was trying to point out that it would have been easily sorted in the beginning if the OP really wanted to. Obviously there's no point in letting the bank know now as the money has passed through and out of the account by the OP, and I suspect the bank will probably alert their fraud team about the OP, and this will then possibly be passed onwards beyond that too, criminally speaking. Apologies for confusion!

AgentProvocateur · 26/02/2017 11:23

OP, do you have insurance with legal cover? You're potentially in bigger trouble than just a tax credits investigation here. You're complicit in money laundering/fraud. You really need legal advice asap.

BarbaraofSeville · 26/02/2017 11:29

Is it necessarily money laundering? The money is being paid by a working man to his non working girlfriend, and the only crime appears to be her claiming tax credits that she wouldn't be entitled to if she claimed jointly with her working partner.

Money laundering is making money that is the proceeds of crime look legimate.

littlebunnyhophophop · 26/02/2017 11:33

Is this a person that's putting money into your account by themselves or is it wages/jsa that's he's had paid into your account ?

AgentProvocateur · 26/02/2017 11:35

I think money laundering is also disguising the origins of the money.

Mumteedum · 26/02/2017 11:39

Op.. I have recently had child tax credit investigation letter. The letter stated I had to send either invoices or bank statements /online bank statement print outs showing the payments. I did the latter and showed only those transactions.

I did it that way as it was way easier searching for the specific transactions than just sending a year's worth of everything.

This wasn't cos I was trying to hide anything. I just followed what was asked for.

Your letter may say the same.

Mumteedum · 26/02/2017 11:40

They were interested in the childcare costs only. It didn't ask about income

HerOtherHalf · 26/02/2017 11:40

Go and get legal advice. There is no way you are going to polish this particular turd. You can't prove this money wasn't for your benefit if you took it out in cash - a few txts will be laughed at as evidence of anything. You can't prove you weren't complicit in your friends committing benefit fraud or laundering dirty money. What you've been doing simply cannot pass the simple acid test of "why the feck would you think this arrangement wasn't dodgy in some way?"

waxmytash · 26/02/2017 11:54

I thought Tc was based on' taxable income' only and additional money paid eg maintenance isn't taken into account ? If thus is the case then the op should have nothing to worry about

SuperFlyHigh · 26/02/2017 11:56

I should in theory know about money laundering (ex legal secretary, we had presentations and seminars on it) but have forgotten a lot of what I knew.

Can't recall if this is exactly money laundering but tax credits people (HMRC?) will certainly be interested and may prosecute.

I don't quite know how tax credits work re a large amount being paid into a bank account though that isn't from OP's funds.

EyeStye · 26/02/2017 12:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Purplepotatoe · 26/02/2017 12:32

it is not money laundering unless is money from a crime. it's also not any kind of offence to let someone else use your account like this. jeez chill out pp. you will need to prove this isn't your income though

Purplepotatoe · 26/02/2017 12:33

loans from mum/ebay also likely fine, try not to worry