Child Tax Credit Overpayment Repayments

[Callywalls]

I have been claiming CTC since last April based on estimated earnings, however, recently my dh got a temporary better paid job - I informed the CTC Office of this yesterday and they said that my payments will obviously stop as I would now go over my estimated earnings and they told me that I would have to pay all the payments made to me back - approximately £2500 - I asked if I could pay in installments and they said that was something I would have to negotiate after they have received the final earnings for this year and there would be a number to ring on the demand letter when I receive it from them. I am very worried - has anyone on mumsnet negotiated a repayment plan with them and if so, can you give me any idea as to how long I will be given to pay the £2500 back (I was hoping to pay around £30/40 per month. Does anyone know if you have to send bank statements, proof of outgoing etc to them and if they are flexible on paying them back? Any advice gratefully received.

Surely they can't take it all back though as he won't have earned a full year? I really don't get tax credits. I seem to be overpaid every year and I can never get how. My over payments have always been under 2,000 so they don't give my anything until its cleared. But i never know who they can get it so wrong as nothing changes to make a difference. I've never had experience with setting up a payment plan but have read many people have successfully agreed to pay £5 or £10 a week to get it cleared

NGC2017 - thanks for taking the time and trouble to reply!! I really hope they will accept an offer of £10 per week. Yes, I too can never understand how they work these things out and it's really frustrating trying to get through to them on the phone. Thanks again

I pay £15 a month to an age old overpayment from years ago. It'll probably still be around in 2025 but that's better than being short and missing payments. Make it clear what is realistic. £10 a week is more than £40 a month, that's a big bill. Go in much lower and see what they agree to first.

Also you won't know what your overpayment is until the tax credits review. Tax year only has 2 months left so you won't go over by that much. Whoever you spoke to is scaring you. Just wait now until you do the annual review then ring them.

I honestly wouldn't worry. I e cried so many tines over the changes I've endured with tax credits and it's never been as bad as what they first say xxx

@callywalls it's a shocking system. I remember when I was being investigated for childcare fraud. There was never any truth in it but they terrified me and made me ill. I did EVERYTHING they asked of me all within deadlines, for them to take 8 months to come back and say they are shutting the case and are satifisfied with no wrongdoing has taken place.
I have always been on the ball with amendments. Tends to be things like increasing or dropping no more the 5 hours once during the year. Luckily now my DS is at school my employer has allowed me to work his school hours so yippee...no more changes for me. The difference has always been minimal. Far below the £2500 disregard. However my award always changes. The once I remember I told them that my pay had been held but my hours were reduced to fit around school. There was absolutely no change to my income. So imagine my surprise when I received my next payment which has triggered a decrease in my award. They couldnt explain and just said their computer system does it all.
This year I have paid nearly £2,000 into a private pension. I have declared this on estimated but as my employer will only declare my gross pay it will trigger that I have been overpaid. When I haven't. All they have told me is i will need to wait for my renewal pack which has always come around may/june time for me. So now I am panicked about them clawing back an overpayment which isnt actually due.
As @LockedDown has said be realistic with your offer. I defintely couldn't do £10 a we week. As bad as it sounds I would struggle to repay £10 a month. We are in such a bad place financially with the ex leaving me with all his debts that the last week before pay I dont eat. I pick at my DS leftovers :(

LockedDown - That's really good advice - Thank you. I will re-think how much I offer to pay, I cannot really afford to pay £10 per week - I was just scared as the person on the phone first of all said they may be able to give me 6 months to pay back - I nearly passed out!! Also, they have stopped my payments immediately (which I expected) but I had not realised that they would have to wait until I do my renewal with end of year figures before they ask for repayment - that gives me a bit of breathing space. Thanks again.

NGC2017 - Thanks again for the reply, sorry to hear of all the hassle you have experienced with them. It is so frustrating dealing with them, it takes ages to get through on the phone, then each person tells you a different story!!

Hello there a couple of things. Firstly if you owe the tax man when you do your return you can usually request to pay it in tour tax code the following year so effectively 12 monthly payments. Additionally they will sometimes be charging you on account ie if you owed money last year they will assume you owe the same this year and therefore charge you for that too. If your husbands only temporarily in this better paid job you can ask them to reduce the on account and that may make the amount you owe smaller

wellhellothereall - Thanks for taking the time to reply to me. I don't owe anything for tax credits last year as my husband was on a low income (he works as a supply teacher so his income can vary) This year, in a short space of time from December to April his income will have increased by about 10k gross over what I estimated (using last years income to go off) The job is only until end of November but between now and April he will earn 10K more than I estimated then from April to November this year his earnings will also take us over the tax credit limit for next year, so I know I will no longer be entitled to child tax credit. After November I don't know how much he will earn, depends on whether he gets another long-term contract or it could just be day to day work which is rubbish money. So, I don't really want the tax office adjusting his tax code, I would rather make an arrangement to pay a fixed amount over say, 5 years? I know it seems like we must be well off him earning 10k extra between last December and this April but he was on very low money for the 2 years previous to that and we have had to borrow money just to survive from family, overdraft etc so my priority is to pay off my overdraft, pay back family etc whilst he is earning the good money. I appreciate I will have to repay tax credits and am happy to do so, but with his future income being so unreliable I would like to be able to fix to repay a monthly amount for peace of mind. Thanks once again for your advice.

We were given 2 years to pay back and agreed£30 per month, last payment last month. When you get the final assessment just ring and explain your circumstances and they do listen. I would also suggest starting putting money aside if you can .

Poppyfr33 -Thanks very much for replying, it's great to hear that they will listen and hopefully let me pay over a longer period of time. The man on the phone yesterday said the only way they will do that is if I offer to pay a large lump sum upfront and then pay the rest over six months - there is no way I can commit to that. I am saving as much as I can whilst my husband earns decent money to pay people back and to also cover us when his job ends in November in case he does not get much work. Most schools use supply teachers as cover supervisors now so they can pay a much lower rate and my fear is we will go back on the lower income but be over committed to paying the child tax credit people back a high amount every month. Can I just ask, when you negotiated repayments with them, did you have to send in bank statements, proof of outgoing etc or did they just take you word for it? (not that I am going to lie to them but it will take a lot of time and effort to get copy bank statements, proof of outgoings etc as I do everything on line.) Thanks again for your advice.

When I rang them up the man was lovely. He asked how much I could pay back a month told me how long I'd be paying it back for and that was it.

Inkythemouse - oh that sounds wonderful - I hope I get him - he sounds much nicer than the man I spoke to yesterday!! (although he was not someone who dealt specifically with repaying overpayments, he was the person I notified a change of income to). Many thanks for replying.

I had a £2400 overpayment to pay back. They agreed I could pay it back at £50/month, which is what I suggested (so over 4 years). Wish I had tried offering lower!
I still don’t know how I ended up with an overpayment, I gave them absolutely all the jnfo and I only had one job (PAYE) and one lot of nursery fees!

NeverTwerkNaked - Thanks so much, I was hoping to have to pay £40 per month at worst - I may ask if I can pay lower as I could afford £40 now but won't be able to in the future. Can I ask, did you have to send in bank statements, proof of income and outgoings etc or did they just go off what you told them on the phone - that is really what I want to know - thanks so much for taking the trouble to reply your answer was really helpful.

@wellhellothereall you are talking about self assessment tax. Tax Credits, despite the name, are an entirely different system, and part of the benefit system, not HMRC tax collection.

@NGC2017 if you debts (even worse- your ex's debts!!!) leave you unable to meet your basic needs (food is basic!!!!) you need to arrange a payment plan. Ring stepchange- they can help.

@Callywalls they just agreed it with me on the phone! This was a couple of years ago though, so can’t guarantee their approach won’t have changed. Good luck!

The child tax credit system is a minefield. My daughter changed from full time teaching to supply work. She had never claimed anything like child credits until she did supply so knew nothing about the system or how it worked. Obviously on supply her earnings change from week to week and of course she is paid nothing in the school holidays.

She told them from week to week what she was earning with evidence and its all Paye yet she had a letter saying she had been overpaid by a substantial amount. After ringing and explaining her circumstances and asking to pay back monthly she has since received another letter which doubles what they were saying she owed in the first place.

She has no clue how this can be ...unless they have assumed she was working and being paid the 13 weeks she wasn't getting a wage at all?
They would then be adding another 13 weeks wages she didn't get to the wages she did get and told them about?

Anyway she is disputing it and nervously awaits the outcome. Does anyone here have any experience of child credits when on supply work or other types of wages which change week by week? Thanks.

NeverTwerkNaked - Thanks again, that's exactly what I wanted to know, I am not trying to get out of paying them back but with my husband's earnings changing constantly it would be a nightmare trying to prove all outgoings to them. Also, my ds starts Uni this Summer so that's going to be even more expense in the future that would not show up as outgoings now, yet will effect what I can afford in future repayments. Thanks so much!!

shiningstar2 - we had a very similar problem last year. My husband went on supply as, after having cancer and not being able to work for a long time, it was difficult to get a full time teaching job, he also believed (wrongly) that supply would be less stressful! The other year he only earned 19k on supply but the Child Tax Credit office had his earnings down incorrectly as 28k - it took a lot of arguing, tears and upset (mainly me) before we realised that somewhere along the line HMRC had received 4 incorrect RTI submissions for him (Real Time Information - what the supply agency send to HMRC every time they do payroll) This information was then passed to the Child Tax Credit people who immediately told us we had been overpaid and demanded an immediate repayment of £1500, however, after contacting HMRC and the supply agency we found out these four submissions were during times when schools were on holiday - he could not possibly have been paid as, like your daughter, he does not get paid during holidays. Please get your daughter to check that everyone has all the correct income figures for her - neither the agency nor HMRC would admit the four incorrect RTI submissions were their fault but in the end I was just relieved that they reversed the submissions and adjusted his income to the correct amount. Supply is a nightmare where benefits are concerned - it is because of all the hassle we had last year that we are so worried about the effect his temporary contract will have on repayments etc Also, if your daughter works for more than one agency check that HMRC have the correct PAYE income from each individual agency - she can either ring them to check this or register on the Direct Gov website - you can check up exactly what they say you have earned each week to make sure they have not duplicated any earnings.