tax credits

[dizydosydoll]

Hi,
In 2003 i had my little boy and whilst on maternity i was made redundant so me and my partner claimed working tax credits as his wage was low back then, however i started a new job about 6 months into the claim part time i made them aware!!, then i went back to work full time and new that i would prob wouldnt be entitled to anything so told them the changes and asked them to just stop paying me however i was told that i had to wait till the new claims were done and that they could just not stop paying me. I filled in all the forms with all the details they needed plus telephone calls and now they say I have been overpaid and by �5000.00 i was gobsmacked as to me this is there error I am in no debt and refuse to be and now this is hanging over me through no fault of my I wrote them a letter saying how annoyed and dissapointed i was but they say that i have to pay it back. Has anybody else gone through this? Im told they do not know what they are doing and overpaying people left right and centre however �5000.00 is a hell of lot of money to me and a lot to be overpaid. Do you think I should take it further?

[themas]

Unfortunately, this happens all too often with Tax Credits. The "rule" they generally work to is that even if they accept that the overpayment is due to their error they still expect the claimant to pay it back unless the claimant could not reasonably have been expected to know they were being overpaid.

You told them of the change and asked them to stop paying you. They will argue that therefore you knew that any payments you received after that were an overpayment.
Was the whole of the �5000 paid after that?

However, you can complain, and ultimately go to the Independent Adjudicator if you wish. Without knowing a lot more detail and looking at the documents (award notices etc) no-one could advise you on whether this is worthwhile. Try your local CAB and ask if you can see someone with special knowledge of tax credit problems - they may be able to take it up for you.

And don't accept the Tax Credit people's figures without a thorough check - they have been known to be wrong!