from CPAG -

'HMRC has agreed to a special meeting on tax credit appeal problems and CPAG has promised to collect information from advice agencies, law centres and local authority welfare rights organisations. The meeting is likely to take place in June or earlier if we have the information in time.

Issues we might cover include:

1. Delays relating to appeals.
2. Failure to refer the appeal to the tribunal service.
3. Request for an appeal or a challenge to a decision automatically dealt with as a dispute about recovery rather than an appeal about rntitlement.
4. Examples of clients who had settlements rather than being able to go through to appeal.
5. Failure of HMRC to produce evidence of entitlement and payments made over the period covered by the appeal.
6. Examples of complications where the appeal is out of time because it is more than 13 months since the decision.
7. Late appeals but before 13 months is up – examples. Are late appeals accepted?
8. Examples of legal points which you have appealed and the outcome, if any.
9. Examples of cases in an administrative mess and where the ideal solution would be an appeal but it is now too late.
10. Examples of appeals made against both in year and end of year awards.

Please add any other comments you think would be useful for a meeting to discuss.

Please email Beth Lakhani at CPAG (blakhani@cpag.org.uk) or call her on 020 7812 5220 to discuss whether you can send any summaries or papers relating to cases you have taken or with which you are concerned.

Would you like to see a meeting set up between welfare rights advisers and HMRC on appeal issues where specialist staff from the Revenue could be present and individual cases could be discussed?

When replying to the above set of questions please indicate against your answers the relevant question number.

Please provide your admin or direct contact telephone number and if possible please reply by 5th May.

Thanks in advance for your help.'