Hi everyone ,
Just read the alternative leaflet as to Why OverPayments Happen , very funny. It reminded me of my own personal encounter with HMRC when my circumstances changed last year.As a welfare benefits adviser I thought I had better report straightaway that my husband's work hours had been reduced from 38 to 15 per week in November 2008. I had even read somewhere that we may be entitled to more money if hours and consequently income was reduced.
No such luck , I was told that the award would be recalculated when our respective P60's were submitted in May this year.This seemed to me to mean that my telephone call had just been a complete waste of time.Therefore when his hours crept back up to 30 a week I decided not to bother with another phone call as the P60's would suffice . So when they owe you money they don't pay it for as long as possible and when you owe them money they send the boys round. Still , thinking about it , it's the Inland Revenue all over isn't it?

Just goes to show how odd the whole thing is. I reported an increase in my hours last year so I'd get the 30hrs credit, and they did it straight away! I suppose it depends who you talk to......although it shouldn't.

I would have been able to have an increase in my Tax Credits had I been able to estimate the years income then and there. But as that was going to be impossible with my husband's hours in the future varying from week to week, according to the amount of work available, I was on a hiding to nothing.And I think they knew that. So we will have to await the outcome of the P60 submission .
It only concerned the CTC anyway , if it had involved WTC I would have tried harder to get a result!