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Tax Credit case summary 1
Mrs A was overpaid by about £1,800 in the 2003/04 tax year and about £200 in the 2004/05 tax year. She complained to us about the TCO’s decision to recover these overpayments. The overpayments had arisen because Mrs A’s actual income in each year was significantly higher than the income used by the TCO to calculate Mrs A’s entitlement during the year. Mrs A had told the TCO in April 2003 that her income was £17,000 but when she submitted her 2003/04 Annual Declaration in June 2004, she declared that her actual income for that year was nearly £22,000. Mrs A’s 2004/05 award was, in the main, calculated on an income of £19,000, which she advised the TCO of in October 2004. When she submitted her 2004/05 Annual Declaration in June 2005, she declared that her actual income in that year was about £24,000.
We did not uphold this complaint. We told Mrs A that we were satisfied that the overpayments arose as a result of her failure to notify the TCO of all of her increases in income, and not as a result of a mistake on the part of the TCO. Therefore, the conditions for writing off an overpayment, as set out in COP 26, had not been met. We were also satisfied that the TCO had not made any mistakes regarding their handling of the claim or subsequent complaint.
