| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
dave s
Rank; Hector Tax Inspector
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
 Posted - 18/12/2008 : 00:34:41
|
|
just briefly, after being made redundent spent 3 months out of work and using my own money and getting a loan off the bank i started my own business dec 2004. on my next tax credit review i had to estimate my earnings because i had only been trading a few months and my income was different each week this is were my overpayment of nearly £4000 arose. i have followed your info but they have written back saying i have still got to repay it all, if you can help i will give you a more precise account of all the details, hope you can help, dave.
|
|
|
Ali M-W
Da Tech(y ones)
3296 Posts |
Posted - 18/12/2008 : 06:32:49
|
quote:
Originally posted by dave s
just briefly, after being made redundent spent 3 months out of work and using my own money and getting a loan off the bank i started my own business dec 2004. on my next tax credit review i had to estimate my earnings because i had only been trading a few months and my income was different each week this is were my overpayment of nearly £4000 arose. i have followed your info but they have written back saying i have still got to repay it all, if you can help i will give you a more precise account of all the details, hope you can help, dave.
This is how HMRC plays, Dave - I have never yet heard of them writing an overpayment off the first time a person disputes. Their first response is always to insist it must be repaid in full. If you write back to them with further evidence showing why they should write this overpayment off, in all probability it will happen again. This is how they wear people down.
For them to eventually write this overpayment off, you have to show that you did everything right as far as you were aware you had to, and that they did something wrong. You have to stick with it and not give in. HMRC will try to wriggle out of anything they did which created or helped cause this overpayment, and will almost always come back with the answer that you must repay it. This is like a game of tennis in that to win you must be the person who hits back with something they can't return. It will long and hard fought, but it is possible to win.
Unless you have an incredible menory, a stash of papers and notes you've made from every call you've ever made, you are going to need to dob a SARN request to get all your documentation and a CD of all your calls. So if this were me, I would write back to say that I still disagreed with their decision to recover all the money as I was fully compliant, not at fault, and believe the overpayment came about because of their own system, and that I want them to look at my case again. I am asking them for all the documents and call recordings they hold on me, as I am going to conduct my own investigation into what went wrong and take advice. In line with the rights they have not told me about, all recovery should be stopped whilst I pursue my dispute. I am copying this letter to my MP and to Paula Dean at Tax Credit Casualties as I also wish to make a complaint at how the system has produced an overpayment which I knew nothing about and cannot afford to repay.
I would send a copy to my MP with a covering note expressing my disgust at how the tax credit system, which is supposed to help people, actually harms them, and I would ask my MP to write to HMRC too.
Once the paperwork and calls arrived, I would look through them and consider what was said on each call made, to see how far I was doing all that HMRC had asked me to, which is surprisingly often the case even when HMRC don't offer much guidance or give people bad advice - after all, no-one wants to faul foul of the taxman (the rare exception being criminals who have little fear as they have devised ways of getting round the system which they expect to work, but as DAwn Primarolo, previous paymaster general overseeing tax credits, famously said, 'most claimants are honest'). This evidence should show where things have gone wrong. Then you can apply HMRC's new COP26, which I will quote at the end.
We can help you with that, of course. You might also want to seek advice from Citizens Advice, Tax Aid or the Low Incomes tax Reform Group. If you haven't already, do look at www.taxCC.org as there are lots of steps and ideas given there - plus contact numbers for Paula and the rest of us if you get stuck (Paula being TCC's best caseworker).
Anyway, the COP26 is outlined below. What I usually advise is to evidence ways in which HMRC did not meet their own responsibilities, actually quoting that responsibility back at HMRC. I then list ways in which the claimant was compliant with as many responsibilities listed below was they knew of at the time. I then quote HMRC's own responsibility to 'give correct advice' as a failure if HMRC did not pre-warn the claimant about some 'responsibility' that they cite here. That usually gets HMRC thinking, at least.
Best of luck with this! Samthe, Miss Froy and if she pops in, Splashin will doubtless help you with the detail of this in later posts on this thread, so please ask away when you need to!
When deciding whether to recover or waive tax credit overpayments, the new COP26 test, for decisions from 1 February 2008, involves seeing if HM Revenue and Customs has complied with its responsibilities and that claimants have complied with their responsibilities.
HM Revenue and Customs should:
o Give correct advice
o Record and use information accurately
o Correct errors notified by claimant
o Update reported changes in circumstances within 30 days
The main responsibilities for the claimant (from 1 February 2008) are to:
o Give accurate, complete and up to date information
o Report changes in circumstances
o Use the checklist to check every award notice
o Tell HMRC of errors in an award notice within 1 month
o Check that amounts received agree with the award notice
Trinity: No one has ever done anything like this.
Neo: That's why it's going to work.
|
 |
|
|
missfroy2
Rank; Captain Gordon
236 Posts |
Posted - 22/12/2008 : 14:35:57
|
In the early days, because the income disregard was only £2500, it was (and still is) possible to have an overpayment caused by an estimate being too low.
There is no obligation to notify of income, so neither the claimant nor HMRC has done anything wrong, but in these cases the overpayments are recovered.
So, in my view, if you informed HMRC of an income (call this X)and tax credits were paid on this income but you then declared a higher income (Y) during renewal, then it is unlikely it will be written off.
These sorts of overpayments are even more likely where income falls then rises again, and that is still a problem even with the £25,000 income disregard.
The only variations of this are where you have reported income rises but HMRC failed to act on the change or where HMRC made some sort of income error. In these cases you have a better chance of getting it written off under the new COP 26.
More information about your exact circumstances would be useful.
MF2 |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
estimated income
