:help: Can anyone help or give me their experiences please????? :sigh:

When we left the UK i told these horrible people (to put it VERY mildy) that we were leaving and to stop payments etc...etc....blah...blahhh

now my mum tells me (re directed post to her house) she has had another letter (had two already giving me their c :sign53: P) saying we owe £900 and it doesn't matter that we left the country we need to pay (c :sign53: ck up in 92/93 so say :sigh: )

can they find us in Oz?????????

:help: please..... Tan.x

This may upset some, but i`d ignore it,they have made a total mess of people`s claims, that it`s ruined some peoples lives, we had terrible experience with them , we were told we`ve been overpaid by them, ;) you give them all the info they require and they still mess up, tell your mum to bin the letters !

DEBBIE

What was their explanation of the 'admin error'? They should be well aware of how much money you have made through PAYE and adjust your payments accordingly.

It never ceases to amaze me how this country gets by. If I was to make a mistake at work like that, peoples lives are in danger, no-one will be hauled over the coals for this error.

The laughable part is it is our responsibility to notify them of over-payments. How the funk would we know that they had given us too much???

Another thing that ticks me right off, you no doubt now feel like a criminal, as would I. Yet what about the millions of spongers that they don't go after!!! Makes me so angry! (Steve Wright in the afternoon, Mr Angry from Purley, stylee).

They think you are going to pay so will keep sending the letters. Get your mum to start sending them bak.

As a totally off the cuff remark, are they going to send someone round for it? I don't think. You can bet interest is accruing though.

Best of luck with what you decide.
Gavin

Tell your Ma to put it in the bin & dont worry about it... ;)

Jenny

I've had this problem in the past (three times!!), each time I've requested a form from them to dispute the overpayments as in my opinion it is their error as I have always told them exactly how much my partner & I earn, how much childcare we pay etc & have always told them immediately of any changes, each time I have done this eventually (upto 6 months) they have written off the debt as they accept the overpayments were their fault. I'm fully expecting the same thing to happen when we eventually move to Oz. Give them a call & request a form, at least it will give you peace of mind.

Julie

NO, NO, NO!!!!!

Ok heres the short of the long story......
When i was in the UK i went through an appeal process which took about 3 months for them to even reply to my form! :sign68:. After a looooong process they basically said tuff and pay it. So payments stopped and i thought all was dandy. They are useless i'm not even wasting my time phoning them, especially not from Oz!!!!.

I just wanted to know if you lot out there think they would/could find us......and yes with interest slapped on! :68:

I agree with spongebob, they overpaid us by a lot!!! We kept telling them to stop as we weren't entitled to it but they kept paying.

Ian reckons it some kind of way to massage the figures and say they have got so many people off benefits.

Anyway to cut a VERY VERY VERY long story short, lots of letter, lots of phone call (when you could get through) we sort legal advise. We had already agreed repayment terms and had started to payback the over pay. Then they awarded us again!!!!!!!! We were told that because they had made many errors for many people NOT to continue payments as they were likely to be writing the debt off (this was by one of their advisors!).

This was at least 6 months ago, we stopped all payments and we haven't heard a thing since.

I would definately bin it.

Hope this helps

Sue

:ph43r: Hi there

Our advice to your mam is BURN THE LETTERS and send the family tax offices the bloody ashes!!!!

Last year we had months and months of hassle with the half wits .In short,they worked our weekly payments out wrong.(they had been given all the relevant payslips etc.) Their COCKUP not ours and they decided just to stop all payments and not bother to tell us they where going to do that,just before Christmas and a month before we where going to see my sister in Adelaide.

Mark fought them tooth and nail for about 6 months proving it wasn't our mistake and finally we won .

If we are lucky enough to get our visas soon we are going to leave it till the very last minute to tell them we no longer require ASSISTANCE!!!!!!! from them.


we'll be fugitives together! :sign61: .jo

i rang tax credit people when we thought we were leaving in Feb, they said i couldnt tell them we were going till i knew for sure, ie they said a week before we left the country. I told them that was fine but i could give no forwarding address, they said i had to, but i said NO!!!!
I also told them that if they cant figure out their sums then dont bother asking me to do it for them! I get about 2 of those forms every year with the green book, what a waste. I dont think i get enough from them, but to be honest i cant be bothered with the hassel for what would amount to 50p a week!
Just ignore the letters i would, and if when i have told them we are leaving the country they are stupid enough to carry on paying me, then that is their tough :sign53:

We told them of our imminent departure when we notified the inland revenue, we continued recieving payment. We telephoned them from Oz, we continued recieving payment. We E-Mailed them from Oz, we continued to recieve payment. My Mum filled in the relevant form at the end of the tax year.........

We gave up. I am very tempted to spend this money but knowing s*ds law they'll realise their mistake as soon as I touch it.

Jan <_<

Be mindful that here in Oz Family Tax Allowance is well monitored and they will ask for any overpayment to be repaid when your income tax return is lodged. We had a friend who copped a huge debt as they had not advised the appropriate department. Oh well, you live and learn I guess.

Jet :)

Same for us too, informed them of our departure, filled in the forms, was even given a reference number for future queries, but they kept paying us. At first we thought it was payments they owed us, but then we got the letters saying we owed them, blah, blah, blah.
We asked for an appeals pack, but the person on the other end of the phone said even if we did bother to fill it in and send it back it could take months and would probably be written off! (in other words they couldn't be bothered to deal with it)
Just after we got the claims pack we got more letters saying the owed us and that the matter was closed :huh:

So it depends where you are and who you speak to at the time just like it does here!

They messed up on our payments and we owed them around 1900. That was June 2005. At the end of June 2005, we put in an appeal against the decision as we felt it was there mistake. I called the tax office yesterday, as i do every month to get an update and still they have not managed to sort anything out after 9 months.

They now say that they have misplaced the appeal letter and asked us to submit another one can you believe!!!!!!!

We are moving out to Oz at the end of March so to be honest with you i would not worry about it. As they cant get there act together, well.....we are just going to leave it as it is there worry not mine.

Rob

Oh so we're not the only one's then, same thing, wrote to them telling them when we left the counrty, they carried on paying us, they've even sent our new award to my mums in the last week :doh: not just one letter but 2 each for me and hubby all with exactly the same info on them, idiots :angry:

Dawn ;)

if they carry on paying me, that will be their own problem... I will tell them when we leave and possibly record the phone call ha ha ha :D.

Ive noticed that too...we always get at least 2 copies in both mine and my husbands name, plus at least two of those A4 booklets (green ones) They are wasting a fortune on paper and postage. Morons. Ill tell them we are leaving and if they want to keep on paying me, that's their problem, not mine!

We plan on telling them aswell but if the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing then tough!


Mandy

I called them 2 weeks prior leaving uk they said " Cant do anything yet, you will have to tell us a few days before you leave" - I rang them again 2 days before we left.

They made the adjusted final payment in September(We left for Oz on 4th Sept 05) and then carried on paying the full payments again from October- I rang them was told "No problem" they would stop the payments immediately.

Well its now February and Im still getting payments - Theres no hope.

Tracey

I didn't inform them we were leaving and there was no forwarding address either.
All the post from our old house gets returned to sender by the post office. They stopped paying me almost as soon as we left.

Let them find me - thats what I say !!!!!!!!!!

Jo

Same here. I told them we were leaving afew weeks before and they told me to ring back a couple of days before, which i did. They then said that they would stop all working tax as me and Paul had stopped working in Uk but we were still fully entitled to child tax until the tax year ends in april. The they would send me a review and i should only write to them once i've received the review to tell them that we no longer live in the country and wish for our payments to be stopped??? You can bet your life as soon as april comes i'll get a letter saying we owe them £££. We haven't spent any of the money that they have been paying us but i'll give it to june/july and if they haven't been in touch by then, sod em, i'm off on a shopping trip to the city. Anyone care to join me :P :P

babs :D

Tanya

This happened to me as well we informed them of us moving, we also told them we woudl be travelling so no future address, they still kept paying us, my sister phoned them emailed them and wrote to them but they wouldn't have none of it and now they say we owe them 2500 pounds...work that one out??? :o

I've been really worried about this but more of what if we don't pay and we fly back to the UK would we be arrested at customs????

It is a really nasty position to be in as like someone has said it makes you feel like a criminal.

Sasha :)

Think i`l be photocopying the letter and sending it recorded delivery, to end payments , so as i have proof of sending it :D

Then if they wish to carry on any payments its up to them, Ive done all I can do.

no wonder everyone I know is telling me they`re payments are stopped and it`s because they are supposed to have been overpaid ;)

DEBBIE :D

Being overpaid and not paying it back is called Theft.Just because you get overpaid from an administrative issue is neither here or there.They will catch up with you and it might well pose a thret to your applications to come here as well as your right to stay here.

We did the right thing and cancelled our child benefit promptly before we left the UK.I dont know why they keep paying,perhaps the computer says Yes!!!!!

I am aware of brits here who are claiming child benefit stiil in the Uk..I work in the area of Law and can assure you that the Department will catch up with you wheter you are here in Aus or the Uk.There are protocols in place.You have been warned..........

At the end of the day it is there problem ;)

I am not going to bend over backwards trying to sort out there mistakes.

If the same happens to us when we go over to Oz then its there tough luck.

.....and beleive me.....they are not going to run to the otherside of the world just to try and claim a few hundred pounds back! Keep the money in the back, reap the interest, then if they want it back they can have it....and its not theft if they keep giving it too you :clap: :D :cool shake:

No-one is suggesting keeping quiet about leaving the Uk without letting Tax credits people know ;)

I was mearly stating that once you have phoned & written and emailed , what else can you possibly do?

you cannot spend every day contacting these people hoping to get a member of staff who will actually listen to what you are saying !!!

DEBBIE :D

One thing I am not is a thief and like others on here will advise the relevant departments of our departure, child benefit, tax credit and Inland Revenue. If they choose to still pay then that is up to them.

As it is happening to alot of people on here then the admin error most certainly lies within their department.


Mandy :bouncy:

As long as you do your bit, then thats all you can do so i would not worry about it. :D

I totally agree with Rob. What else are you meant to do? if you have informed them in every way that you can, email, letter, phonecall and they choose to ignore you then surely they are the ones in the wrong.
That is what I really hate about these people, they expect everyone else to do their jobs for them.
Surely if you have this money paid into an account and can prove that you had no intentions of spending it then how can it be called theft?
Are you supposed to dedicate you lives to chasing up these matters when some incompetent idiot doesn't do THEIR job properly.

Deb

I've never been a thief and never will be I certainly don't like the thought of landing to see family and being arrested at the airport or when going for our Aussie citizenship being told we can't as we have a ticket against our name from the UK government.

I think nowadays the world is so small with the internet and email plus countries have international agreements it just isn't worth the risk. I for one will be paying it back just purely for my own peace of mind.

Each to their own though.

Sasha :)

I would pay it back too, but how far are you meant to go? If they don't request the money back are you supposed to go to their offices cash in hand and work it out for them.
How are you meant to go about this.
I would like to be able to come back to the UK one day and know I am not going to be arrested. I would also like to be able to apply for PR when the time comes. If theis happens to us then I will be doing as others have said, recording phonecalls and sending letters by registered post to make sure I cover my own back.

Deb

Just thinking outside the square, how about closing the bank account if the amount is paid into it by Direct Credit, or returning any cheques that are sent via mail with return to sender not known at this address surely that would get someones attention. They won't keep sending money if you don't receive it and the payment bounces back to them.

Jet :)