answers on a postcard .... or in this new HMRC leaflet ...

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/wtc8.pdf

This is the draft version which the IR decided not to run with.


“You may not know that tax credits are calculated on a daily basis. So each
day’s delay in telling us about a change may lead to a bigger overpayment”.

Hell! We don’t know either. We just put the information into the computer and if the computer says no then what are you gonna do?

“If you are overpaid you may wonder why this has happened. Here are the
most common reasons why people end up with an overpayment”.

“Tax credits are based on your income as well as your circumstances.
We work out what you are due at the start of each tax year – 6 April”.

You can bet your sweet ass that if so much as £1 is paid to you that shouldn’t have been were gonna send the box of toys round.

“If you include a child on your form that you are not responsible for,
you will be overpaid”.

We know all the dodges about borrowing children for when our officers call round. We’ll be watching you.

“If you don’t tell us when your childcare costs stop or go down by £10 a
week or more, you will be overpaid tax credits”.

To be honest, we don’t quite know where that one came from!

“If you don’t tell us you stop working or reduce your hours, you could
end up with an overpayment”.

And we’ll prosecute you under The Conniving Ba****ds Act 1546.

“If you wrongly tell us that you are getting an income-based benefit,
we would not take it into account when we work out your payments.
But, you will be overpaid and will have to pay it back”.

You will be taken to a place, kept in communicado for 15 years and be subjected to unspeakable acts involving, scissors, sticky back plastic and scatter cushions.

“If you are a couple, you must make a joint claim. If you are single, you
must make a single claim. If you don’t tell us straight away that your
partner moves in or out, you may be overpaid”.

And if you’re Sow White and the seven dwarves our computer will blow up

“We ask you to renew your tax credits claim each year. We send you a
Renewal Pack, which includes your Annual Declaration. The pack tells
you what you need to do, and by when. If you don’t send us your Annual
Declaration on time, you may end up with an overpayment”.

And as we will have no further record of you, you will cease to exist. Family and friends will ignore you and you’ll be buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the outskirts of Peterborough.

“If you don’t tell us straight away that your child has left full-time
non-advanced education, you may get too much tax credits
(and Child Benefit too)”.

We will then confiscate your children and sell them to Madonna/Angelina Jolie* (*delete as appropriate)

“It is best to tell us about changes as soon as possible, to avoid an
overpayment. But, even though you have told us on time about a change
in your life, you may still have an overpayment. This is because tax credits
are worked out on a daily basis and we often pay you in advance”.

And we will recover it. You mark my words. That’s because we have loads of power and you don’t have a leg to stand on.

“If you forget to sign your claim form or we help you make a new claim after
you and your partner separate, we send an award notice that needs to be
signed and sent back.
If you don’t send it back by the date shown on it, all the money you get will
be an overpayment. This is because in law you have not made a claim”.

And the law is what we say it is and don’t you forget it! Want to make something of it!!

You should check your award notice and tell us straight away if there is
anything you understand in it because were buggered if we do.

If this leaflet does not answer all your questions, and you still
don’t know why you have an overpayment, please write to:

David Cameron
Tory Head Office
The Scilly Isles

WOW!!

nevip...Sums up all the emotions and rage I go through dealing with the TCO.
Now take a deep breath :~)
Regards
John

LOL! Cheered me up no end.

I think you meant Snow White rather than Sow White???

Indeed.

They should also have included these:

"you will be overpaid if you do exactly what we tell you to do"

client gets annual dec and it unambigously says "you do not need to contact us if there are no changes". Client later overpaid £10k for not replying to the annual dec...!!

you will be liable for an overpayment if you do what we tell you, but we fail to do what we're supposed to"

client reported change, TCO admit to not dealing with it, but not to failing in thier responsibilities = overpayment recoverable.



Q. What is the definition of tax credits?

A. The worst system for delivering social welfare in the history of humanity.

I'm in the middle of a dispute for one client where we're questioning what TCO say - they say the client told them on a specific date that income was about £11,000 less than it actually was - they also state that the clients have repeated this info on other occassions including in face to face interviews.

My clients are adamant that what TCO state happen did not so we wrote and requested clarification.

The reply states that they do not have recordings of the phone calls in question as the person on the helpline failed to record them and that they do not know where the face to face interviews took place and they suggest we ask our clients.

U N B E L I E V A B L E !

Adjudicators here we come.

"as the person on the helpline failed to record them"

What does this mean? Does the operator have to actuate a recording mechanism for each call? Are they really living so much in the dark ages? As you say U N B E L I E V A B L E !

I agree with Derek, that suggests that the operator has to initiate recording of a call - I always thought it was an automatic thing.

What period is the phone call related to?

Victoria

This is a direct quote from the letter:

"You say that there is no record of the call being made on this date in the CD's of the calls you have received. This is due to not all calls being recorded by the call centre staff."

The period is 2005-2006.

I have a client with an overpayment that resulted from him having TWO claims being paid at the same time. Can't get an explanation as to how it is possible that someone could have two claims, needless to say TCO say it is clearly my clients fault that he did!!!!!

from bbc news -

'A new leaflet explaining how tax credits work has been withdrawn by HM Revenue & Customs because of a mistake.

The HMRC leaflet, entitled "Why do overpayments happen?" was published on the Revenue's website last week.

It said a tax credit claimant who failed to report that their income had risen from £9,000 to £20,000 a year would be paid too much in tax credits.

But the leaflet failed to mention that someone's income can in fact rise by £25,000 before repayments are due.

"We agree that the example used on page 2 of this leaflet concerning income is misleading and we have arranged for this leaflet to be removed from our website," said an HMRC spokeswoman.'