I have a client who was receiving WTC based on last years earnings , and stopped work in March 2009 and informed the Tax Credit office who continued to pay it. They have no record of phone calls or letters from the client , event though she says she sent them. So they then rang client (which suggests they had received some communication , otherwise why would they ring?) and asked for the details and there was then an overpayment. She is coming to see me next week , I would probably put together a letter of appeal for the client against the overpayment , but as I don't normally deal with this benefit as I work for Age Concern and it doesn't crop up often!, I thought I would ask advice on the best way to proceed with this. Thanks.

There is no right of appeal, as such, against an overpayment decision. You can ask the Revenue to reconsider its decision to require repayment of an overpayment - they commonly refer to this as an appeal, but it is not to an independant tribunal. Always send in form TC846 with any letter you send, disputing an overpayment. This should stop the recovery process until the dispute is decided/finished. It may be worth asking for a recording of any phone calls from your client that they do have a record of, but as they are claiming not to have heard from the client, has she got an itemised phone bill to show when she rang them? Details about the dispute process are contained in their leaflet COP26, which you can get online

(Brian)

It is best to ask for the CD of calls in writing to the HMRC Data Protection Unit. As it appears they have probably had some communication from her also ask for a copy of all paperwork related to her claim, and a screen print of all entries on the computer system. It takes up to 40 days to get this - & the CD generally comes after the paperwork. To stop TCO going ahead with recovery action you also need to put in a dispute now, based on what the client says about the situation, and also say in it that CD and paperwork has been requested and you will write again when it is received.

Many thanks for your speedy replies , I feel much more confident about my meeting with client on Monday now.As we say in the Trade and as Bunsen Honeydew once famously said "Learning all ze time".

I agree with what others have said, and would add that it is worth checking whether the 4 week run on was due (and paid).

Also, best to double check that is actually the cause of the overpayment. Quite often I see cases where the helpline give one reason, but it turns out to be incorrect.

Victoria

Since my last enquiry which you kindly answered I followed all the above action , but since then (22/6) , there has been no acknowledgment of the TC846 and the client has received another letter to say the overpaymjent has increased by another £200. Client is ringing them to ask for a breakdown of the overpayment calculation and to ask why there has been no reply to the TC846 , I thought this was supposed to susopend the overpayment action pending an investigation.

They don't normally acknowledge receipt. The only way you can tell is if they don't continue to ask for it back and therefore have suspended recovery.

You could try calling the intermediaries line to ask if it has been logged as received on the system.

Victoria