repayment of tax credit

[racy tracy]

Hello......I am currently paying back an overpayment of tax credit, £19.98 is taken from my bank every month. This has been going out of my bank now for quite some time, 1st initial payment of £20.00 went out in Nov 2008, and then from Dec 2008 every month via Direct Debit. As most of you will have worked out by now, this was quite a hefty overpayment, I think it was around £13,000....I did appeal it but lost my appeal, I had evidence that I had written to them given them an update on my living arrangements, but they say they didn't receive this letter, and therefore as far as they are concerned, I didn't inform them of a 'change in my circumstances'......and the rest is history (as they say). Anyway, what I would like to know is, is there any situations where the HMRC may write a debt like this off? The reason I ask is that I am now a single mother and out of work, and the debt is currently being paid via some savings that I have. I was widowed in April 2014, my husband of 24yrs was killed riding his motorcycle, and prior to this in Aug 2013, I was made redundant. Luckily my husband had a pension that paid a benefit on death, and most of this was used to pay my mortgage off, so that me and my son, could stay in the house that we had made home. Any money that was left over was put into a savings account and this drip feeds my current account to pay bills etc, so this is what is currently paying my overpayment. But this money is slowly getting less and less, therefore thats why I wanted to know if there were any special circumstances that the HMRC would consider writing a debt off?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[blondebubbles]

I believe in some circumstances they will suspend recovery of the overpayment but unlikely they would write it off if there is a likelihood you'd have income in future or have any assets.