Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

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:
LottieL · 26/02/2017 15:17

And how is the OP going to prove she didn't use the money herself given that she withdrew it in cash?
I wouldn't advise "it'll be fine don't worry" when it certainly doesn't seem to be an easily proven thing.

LottieL · 26/02/2017 15:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GirlElephant · 26/02/2017 15:27

You have been naive at best.

This situation is classic money laundering when a naive or paid individual agrees to accept credits from unknown sources and then lifts cash. This is a breach of your bank's terms and conditions for this reason. Have the payments now stopped?

I would highlight/annotate the bank statements to differentiate that EBay/Mum/third party payments as I would imagine the investigation will require them.

I would then summarise the breakdown of the £11k accordingly.

GirlElephant · 26/02/2017 15:28

Ps fully agree with Lottie. The OP can't prove she didn't keen the cash, not can she prove she didn't keen a cut of the cash

Whocares2017 · 26/02/2017 15:37

I am confused. Tax credits don't take into account how much you have in savings so why would they be interested in how much money was going in and out of someone's account?

They asked me once for evidence that the children lived with me (no idea if it was a spot check or what) and I had to give receipts for toys and clothes, doctor letters, school documentation etc. Is this the same thing?

Whocares2017 · 26/02/2017 15:37

Oh just realised they would class it as income, that wasn't declared.

Leggit · 26/02/2017 15:40

I'm bloody gobsmacked to find that tax credits do t take savings into account. That's utterly crazy considering the mess this county is in. Someone could be sat with thousands in the bank and still getting their income topped up Confused

kayleighnotts · 26/02/2017 15:47

Leggit it will soon change for those who claim tax credits with large savings when they go onto universal credit as it will be taken into account.

TreeTop7 · 26/02/2017 15:55

Whilst savings are of no interest to the tax credits department, HMRC will think that the £11k is undeclared income from a cash-in-hand job, which would be problematic.

The girlfriend won't make a helpful statement to exonerate you OP, because she's dodgy - she is almost certainly claiming a cocktail of benefits on the basis that she's single with no income.

Talk to CAB. Don't talk to the girlfriend - warning her will not help your case in any way. You need to persuade HMRC to believe you. Copies/screenshots of messages might help because they'll show that he wasn't an employer. You will be landing his girlfriend in trouble, but that's ok. Cooperate fully.

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 16:23

Leggit - Yes it is surprising isn't it that someone could inherit thousands of pounds and still get tax credits. However you do have to declare any interest over £300 a year on this capital. So for example I have £20k in savings and it earns around £500 interest a year, we would need to declare the £200 as income on the tax credit form. It is a crazy system. However when Universal credit eventually replaces tax credits I think capital will be taken into account and you will not be able to claim tax credits if you have more than a certain amount in the bank ( not sure what the limits will be though).

HCantThinkOfAUsername · 26/02/2017 16:29

I don't have any advice but I'm in the same position except with housing benefit, been so naive and burying my head in the sand

m0therofdragons · 26/02/2017 16:45

Leggit my ex friend used to own her own 4 bed detached new build house in a nice area plus received child support from her ex husband but none of that was included in tax credits so she had 3 dc and received obscene amounts of tax credits. Her 10 yo got an Apple laptop that cost about £1500 for her birthday as she "needed it". It was hard to have it rubbed in my face when I'd given up work as I couldn't afford childcare for twins (had only planned for 1 baby) but dh earned too much for tax credits. We were able to eat and lived okay but seeing her flaunting her income and boasting how much she got made her my ex friend. To be fair, she was entitled to it so why wouldn't she claim it but I didn't need to hear about it all the time.

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 16:58

Tax credits are such a crazy system. They take no account of housing costs (someone owning their own home outright gets the same as someone paying extortionate rent in London) if they earn the same and have the same nukber of kids etc. Obviously the latter may get some help from Housing benefit.They take no account of child maintainence payments so a lone parent with an ex who pays nothing gets the same amount of tax credits as another lone parent gettting large amounts of child maintainence. They take no accounts of savings except interest over a certain amount. I have a colleugue with no mortgage with 3 kids and uses the tax credit payments just for foreign holidays twice a year and yes I can't help feeling a little envious.

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 17:06

I do understand that trying to make tax credits fairer based on savings/ income/ would be an administrative nightmare, but there surely has to be a fairer way distribute public funds to the most needy?? Ireliably, but there

Abbeyx123 · 26/02/2017 17:53

Can I just say there's people on here who are saying I must of made something out of this I 100% did not if that was the case I wouldn't be borrowing money left right and centre just to get me through each month I'm a single parent who's trying to do my best by my child and decided to help someone he hasn't put the full £11,000 in no I sell my sons old clothes on eBay depop etc and my mum will send me money every other month to try and help me as best she can she also has 2 other children who live near me so what she'll do is say she is giving us £100 she will put £300 into my account and I'll give the £200 to my brother and sister I no it sounds really hard to believe that I didn't think this was an issue it has always been something I didn't seem a problem but then when he started to put larger amounts in the largest all at once being £1000 I told him he needs to stop because I had seen online my income estimate was to low so I rang tax credits and updated them to avoid any over payments so my tax credits were lowered accordingly, also had to ring them about my sons nursery he was originally going to do 4 days but we decided on 2 so I had to pay back 2 days worth of overpayment towards childcare if I was so interested in claiming money I shouldn't be why would I own up as soon as I seen the issue with my payments being to high? Surely I'd of carrier on because they hadn't notice, if I had benefited from this money I wouldn't be sat on over £3,000 worth of debts surely I'd of cleared my debts with money I earnt from this? My only mistake is allowing he's partner to be given money in cash so she can sit on her benefits without worrying and I do not know where this money come from the payments into my bank ran from July to January that's when I made him stop. It was going on for a year I mean all in all this year £11,000 roughly maybe less has gone into my bank account as I say it's from money off my mum eBay depop this man I'm talking about and even borrowing money from friends. It's not £11,000 solely off him x

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 17:58

You've been very naive. Also if your mum is helping you out it would be better if she just gave you cash as a gift rather than it going through your bank account.

Abbeyx123 · 26/02/2017 18:00

My mum lives in Glastonbury and I'm in Manchester so her putting it into my bank is the only option she has stage 3 emphysema so she's in the house a lot can't really travel down here and I can't travel up there due to me not being able to take to much time off work so bank transfer is the only option really she just helps me because she knows I'm struggling to stay afloat at the moment x

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 18:00

It's just not a god idea to have any amounts of money going through your bank account when you are reliant on benefits. The DWP can ask to see statements etc if they suspect at any time that you are receiving income from elsewhere.

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 18:02

Then why doesn't she pay it into your siblings account ( assuming they are not on benefits too !! ) and they give you the cash. you are leaving yourself wide open to being investigated and risk having your benefits stopped. It's not worth the risk in my opinion.

Abbeyx123 · 26/02/2017 18:02

This is the reason I didn't see it as an issue because I haven't earnt from it I no they won't see it that way, I can just see this being one big mess and me being the one who comes worse off from it NIGHTMARE!!!

Glossolalia · 26/02/2017 18:06

OP have you NC'd to Abbeyx123?

Abbeyx123 · 26/02/2017 18:09

My brother has a post office account and my sisters in over draft I don't really have anything to do with them to be honest I just hand the money to them they've never worked in there lives yet seem to be living the life of Riley while I struggle Day to do day just to keep a roof over mine and my sons head. Ironically the reason my mums I the Position to help us out because the benefits office contacted her as she had over £7000 in her account and they questioned why she had that amount while on benefits when she explained she's more or less house bound the gentleman told her she needs to discard of some of the money so she just gave me my brother and sister a little extra each month to help us out she also sends money to my other sister who lives in Tenerife does say online gifts and money from friends and family are disregarded totally that's on the benefit website so that to me isn't an issue it's the other thing I'm worried about not my mum giving her daughter a little help because she knows she's struggling

Abbeyx123 · 26/02/2017 18:09

Yes I closed my acc down but reopened it and it wouldn't let me use the previous username sorry for any confusion ha ha

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 18:13

So presumably your mum is donating money to your siblings and you to keep claiming benefits herself !!

Babyroobs · 26/02/2017 18:17

I think this whole thread just sums up why people get frustrated and cross at the benefit system . Your mum is giving away income to carry on claiming benefits to you and your siblings who are all on benefits !!!