Letter saying I owe overpaid child tax credit from 2017

[feckingknackered]

I have just received a letter stating I owe £10000 in tax credit overpayments from 2016 to 2017
I'm certain this is incorrect, I was a single parent at that time working part time so my claim was correct.
Is this genuine? Has anyone else had to dispute a historic claim?

You say your claim was correct but we were over paid each year for around 5 years, despite doing the correct paperwork then phoning them to ensure they had the correct figures. It was baffling how they got it wrong each time, it was also a total nightmare.

Just ring them and speak to an actual person and see what they say.

That's so incompetent of them @CouldOfIsntRight
I know I need to ring them, I just hate stuff like this, sitting on hold for hours etc

Is £10k a typo?!

@ladymacbeth not a typo unfortunately

They are notorious for buggering it up.

No one here can tell you. You need to call them.

If they overpaid you £10k in one year, how much were you claiming?! Or are they asking for your total claim back?

They did it to my brother for £8k; apparently they are notoriously crap.

Make sure it’s not a scam. Sometimes scams can look very convincing.

Ask for the overpayment dept - don't bother trying to deal with the initial call handler. Ime they are really good. By law also they need to allow many years to repay. Still repaying from over 7 years ago when I got married. Only the repayment dept can authorise long term plans. Don't be bullied into agreeing to pay more a month than you can afford op. And you can't repay more than one debt /overpayment with them at a time.

We had this..... told them correct figures etc then 8k over payment. Paid off this year but amount my friends several had over payments.

Why are they doing historic calculations?
Normally its done yearly and they will tell you if the previous year you had an over payment. Very strange.

Yep ours was for £5k. We asked for details of all their calculations for the period and we compared to our earnings, childcare costs etc. Doing this actually delayed the payback by about 6 months. However, they then referred it to a debt collection company so we ended up paying £50 by direct debit for about 18 months then the direct debit suddenly stopped. The collection agency has gone bust 🤣 About 2 years after that HMRC contacted us and said it’d be taken out of our Universal Credit payment. We weren’t on Universal Credit, never had it, never claimed it! Then about 2 years later they sent a letter and had written it off. No idea why we went through all that and we did actually owe it because they had actually been overpaying us and we did owe it 🤷🏼‍♀️. You’re best best is to call them and ask for full details, calculations etc. then take it from there.

To have been overpaid £10k in a year, you must have been getting almost £200 a week in CTCs, OP. Were you getting working tax credits as well?

Tax credits are always provisional, based on the income in the previous tax year. A big pay rise, or starting work, can lead to a big overpayment if it's not reported (or, if it is reported by HMRC failed to act on it). It's usually adjusted in the following year, when they know how much you've earned.

I'd challenge this and ask them what income figures they're using, then check them against yours and your partner's P60s for 16/17. If it's wrong, tell them.

Sometimes they do historic calculations if it turns out that income information comes in ages after the year in question. I've come across it a fair bit in cases where one partner is self employed, and they're late filing their self-assessment.

If you can get an appointment with a welfare rights adviser at CAB or similar advice agency, I'd go and see them when you get the figures if you can't fathom it out. They should be able to calculate what the correct figure should be.

Thanks all, it is for WTC and CTC and looks like the amount for the whole year. I was in the same job and on a pay freeze for years so no change of income. No partner either.

I will do what a PP advised and ask for their calculations and go from there. I'll see if I can email so there a trail. What a pain in the arse!