Tax Credits Rant Cos My Head Is Battered

albert

albert

albert

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Since the little ones were born we've been claiming Child Tax Credits. Every year , when we eventually got through to the call centre , i gave them our P60 details. The payments they sent us for the following year were the payments we thought we was entitled to.

Two years ago i got a letter from them saying they wanted £2500 paid back to them because they had been overypaying us. After an investigation it turned out they had put my wrong details into their computer system. They thought i was on £250,000 a year. They admitted they were wrong and our payments continued.

Last year the tax credit people sent us a letter and told us they had been in touch with our employers. As a result of this they increased our payments by £100/month to around £280 month. Again i thought this was right because they had our right details.

This year we received a letter to say our tax credits have been stopped. Something to do with the fact that now married couples need to be on around £30,000 a year or less to qualify. They have also sent us a letter saying because we have been overpaid they want us to repay £3000.

What is it with these people who can't do their jobs? Their phone system is horrendous when you can be on hold for hours to speak someone. How were we supposed to know that we were being overpaid? Also there is NO way we can afford to pay back this £3000 , even though they said we could spread the payments back to them over 12 months.

So we are putting a complaint in and we are also appealling. But my head is battered and my Mr's is stressed to bits.
 
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I get scared to touch my tax credits for the same reason, I always over estimate my following years earnings to try to make sure I'm not over paid, plus I'm very mindful of the rules and regulations regarding tax credits.

What is their reason for you having to pay back the £3000 though?, the income limit has only changed on the 6th of April this year.

Edit -

I see, it seems they have over paid you again, you really have to be careful with tax credits, that jump from £100 to £280 would have made me suspicious tbh, although to be fair they shouldn't of made the mistake in the first place.
 
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i got a letter once stating i owed them for £52,000 over a 5 year period thing was i wasnt even claiming it at the time i had stopped cause of senerios like this just aint worth the grief. Was told it was paid into my bank account, asked them for the bank details told me they couldnt disclose the details never heard anything again about it since, hopeless at there jobs.
 
HMRC call centres are really bad and generally staffed by very poor quality staff.

To compound matters they are short staffed.
 
For the amount they gave us I wonder whether it was really worth it for the hassle. But then it's stopped for us now but I am wondering whether they are going to be wanting a sum of money back soon I kind of get the feeling they have messed us up the same thing. Fortunately we were not getting the sums you were so would have less to pay back. Really feel for you though must be very stressful.
 
I am reading this with interest as we currently get some child tax credits but I believe they are due to stop after the twins are twelve months old? we have a 2 year old as well and dont seem to get much for her although we did when she was first born so I would imagine that is correct. My wife is quite anal about that sort of thing and as above always over estimates our incomes to make sure we never get to much.
 
Tell them you'll pay it back - £1 a week as that all your finance can accommodate at the moment.
 
Knowing a couple of airheaded twonks who work as HMRC admin, I'm not surprised there are mistakes (that is if they're anything to go by).

I hope you get it sorted albert.
 
aproctor said:
HMRC call centres are really bad and generally staffed by very poor quality staff.

To compound matters they are short staffed.
Click to expand...

Not true in all cases, I know a few people who deal with child tax credits and they're all pretty clued up on how it works, but the systems they use and the way everything is run is muddled up. The fact that you can be overpaid by such a huge amount by what is an automated system is pathetic, it doesn't help that they don't let you do the entire thing online and check what you're being paid versus what you think you should be getting paid etc.

They only moved from NT workstation a couple of years ago..
 
Halfmad said:
Not true in all cases, I know a few people who deal with child tax credits and they're all pretty clued up on how it works, but the systems they use and the way everything is run is muddled up. The fact that you can be overpaid by such a huge amount by what is an automated system is pathetic, it doesn't help that they don't let you do the entire thing online and check what you're being paid versus what you think you should be getting paid etc.

They only moved from NT workstation a couple of years ago..
Click to expand...

I've wondered this for years, surely every department should be interconnected these days, housing benefits, council tax, inland revenue etc, there should be a government website you can just log into and it's all there, your payments, direct debits, personal information, a shared data base, we need to modernise and streamline the system, it would pay for itself the money it would save in fraud claims and overpayments, when I get my P60 from the tax office I have to then ring them back again to tell them what my P60 says lol, it's joke.
 
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In a similar position, and they are the most incompetent bunch of morons I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

My partner and me are currently being paid based on our income from 2 years ago (2010-2011), and despite having called them 7 times now, they seem unable to grasp the fact that our joint income has gone down and my partner hasn't been working for the last 18 months due to sickness in pregnancy!

We now have to wait until potentially the end of June before getting our renewal pack to update our details.

Of course the moment YOU owe THEM money, they're on you like a pack of rabid dogs. :mad:
 
Because my earnings are not fixed salary basis, i found them a nightmare to deal with. because they pay you this years credits based on last years figures, I eventually told them to stop sending me ANY details/credits etc because I was fed up with getting paid a small amount one year and then claimed back the following year.

You can negotiate with them - I owed them £400 one year and as a point of principal didn't wish to pay it back to them in one go (could afford it no problems), agreed to pay it over 6 months.
 
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