Property News · November 30, 2016

Families on tax-credit harassment: 'a massive headache and real worry'


Chased by debt collectors for overpayments made in error by HMRC, they suffer what one MP calls a ‘menacing obstacle course’ Since its introduction in 2003, the tax-credit system has been plagued with problems. For more than a decade, HM Revenue & Customs has struggled to respond swiftly to families’ changing circumstances, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people unwittingly owing money after being overpaid working tax credit and child tax credit. In the year to June 2016, Citizens Advice helped people with 40,000 issues relating to tax credit overpayments, a 6% increase on the previous year.In 2014, it was reported that the government was pursuing more than 4.7m cases of overpaid tax credits, amounting to total debts of £1.6bn, and using debt collectors to do so. Since then, it seems to have continued to take a heavy-handed approach. In the past year, Citizens Advice has seen a 32% increase in the number of issues related to the recovery of tax-credit overpayments, including the involvement of debt collectors. In some cases, debt-collection agencies hold inaccurate information from HMRC and are chasing money from individuals who already been making payments via direct debit. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Families on tax-credit harassment: ‘a massive headache and real worry’

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