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Joey
Rank; Hector Tax Inspector
2 Posts |
 Posted - 22/02/2009 : 15:31:15
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Hi
My so called overpayment battle has been going on now for over 6 months, possibly longer. HMRC are demanding that I pay back an overpayment of around £4000 Have written many many letters, made appeals after appeals and even involved my local Tory MP to no avail. HRMC claim they over paid me for 2 differing reasons. At first it was the usual that we hadn't told them about a change of circumstance. We did, both via telephone and in writing. They claim the letters were never received and the phone recording equipment had failed to "record every conversation we had". After numerous calls and letters (all recorded delivery now) they have now said the reason for the overpayment was due to me incorrectly filling a form out that stated my total income was £1800 and not £18000 as was the real amount. Depending on which letter I read from them, they're demanding either £2700 back or £4000. Clearly they still have absolutely no idea what they are doing. A similar situation happened to me about 6 years ago and was proved to be their errors after a year of hassle. I think this time they have concocted these errors to have their pound of flesh. I'm tied of fighting this never ending battle with them and feel I have no choice but to pay up. Haven't got anywhere near the amount they want in one lump some so hopefully someone can advise on how I get a payment plan that will hopefully take another 60 years to pay back !
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Edited by - Joey on 22/02/2009 15:34:24 |
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missfroy2
Rank; Captain Gordon
236 Posts |
Posted - 22/02/2009 : 18:00:41
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Have you kept copies of your award notices?
Both of these explanations are likely to be easy to double check if you have them.
Firstly changes of circumstances: It would help if you could tell us what the changes were. if you told them about them and they failed to act then you might get some of the overpayment written off under the new COP 26. You should do a data protection request for phone calls and data from around this time.
Secondly, the income issue: Find out what form it was - sounds to me like it was an annual declaration - if so it will be in your data request. However, even if HMRC made the mistake and put the income in wrong, they would expect you to check the award notice. Have a look back at your award notices. Did you have one that said income of £1800 - if so did you tell them it was wrong?
MF2
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Joey
Rank; Hector Tax Inspector
2 Posts |
Posted - 22/02/2009 : 20:31:28
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| Yes kept copies of everything they have sent. Change of circumstance was increase in annual income of my partner. She phoned and the operator said it wouldn't make a difference to the payments. That is one of the recordings they can't find ! Yes it was annual declaration form. I maintain that I didn't write £1800, who would be on a salary of £1800 a year working 40 hours a a week? I know the government would be happy for me to do that but even using their min wage there is no way I could be on that. Anyway, I've looked back on the forms they sent me and they have me down as £1800 and on another my partner as £230000....yes £230k !!! They amended the £230k to 23k but didn't notice they hadn't changed the £1800. My fault I guess, thats why I realise that paying it back is only a matter of time but obviously want the "best" terms. How I get it is another issue ! |
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missfroy2
Rank; Captain Gordon
236 Posts |
Posted - 23/02/2009 : 00:24:30
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Well, based on what you have said, the change of circumstances may not have impacted on your award. It depends on what year this was (the disregard used to be 2500, now is 25000), whether you were a family element only award (£545 per year) and whether your award at the time you reported the change was based on your previous year income or an estimate.
Secondly, re the income error. You might be able to get the overpayment reduced by arguing that HMRC processed the info on the form correctly, but under the new COP 26 it would only wipe it out from when they processed it to until the award notice showed it incorrectly. I would have thought that your payments would have increased quite a lot though for a drop that high.
Worth trying another dispute.
If you are going to arrange a payment plan you can pay over 30 days or 12 months. Anything over that depends on your circumstances. Up to 3 years, they should not ask for an income/expenditure form if the figures seem normal enough. Anything longer than that then you will have to do an income/expenditure form to show how much disposable income you have and therefore how much you can afford to pay. If you cannot pay anything, they should hold it or you can ask for it to be written off on hardship grounds. Very rare that department does this.
Good luck
MF2 |
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Another overpayment !
