I have been claiming tax credits as single but partner lives with me.

[blondebubbles]

I would be completely honest, declare when he did start living with you, don't let them decide this on their own. They already know something is wrong. Do not allow it to get worse but hiding the truth or lying further.

 

Explain your reasoning for not declaring this at the time.

 

Offer to make repayments at a reasonable level. I wouldn't suggest a bank loan, then you'd have interest to pay. You won't pay interest on the tax credit overpayment.

 

You may get a penalty on top of the overpayment.

 

Although criminal proceedings are possible, it's not a route they go down often.

[blondebubbles]

Thank you for replying. I intend to be fully honest. They have only mentioned this current year and 2014 - 2015 on the letter. Do I mention previous years, or wait to be asked? He wasn't there all the time, but it would be hard to prove otherwise. I'm so worried about this, I can't function properly.

 

As I mentioned above, you should tell them when the change actually happened.

[blondebubbles]

Can I ask. Is your partner working ?

 

There is such a thing as notional entitlement, which is basically. They treat your claim as tho it was a joint claim and deduct that from any overpayment.

If you would have had an entitlement anyway, depending on circumstances you could request this. This has to be done quickly though

 

You don't get this if you deliberate fail to report the change.

[blondebubbles]

The other thing you may need to consider is if your partner knew you was still claiming the benefit, if so they could go after them as well. you have done the right thing by coming clean now rather than later, this could have made the debt larger and harder to pay back.

 

 

Also you may want to remember that the Agency involved may apply to a Court for them to place an order on your home especially if you have profited from the claim. I am just pointing out what may happen, by the way did you claim a single persons allowance for your Council Tax?

 

They can't because the partner would not have been able to do anything about it if he did know, he would not be able to access her record to close it down.

[blondebubbles]

 

 

 

How do HMRC know whether you failed to report the change deliberately or just forgot, have they added mind-reading to their array of powers?. 'Notional offsetting ' is your friend in this very common situation. The amount of overpayment will depend upon how much your partner earns, e.g if he was on benefits you'd have got the same amount anyway so no overpayment would be due, if he's on a decent wage you will have to pay back a lot of money which TBF you weren't entitled to anyway.

 

If anything like tax then it will be all about questioning why the error occurred. It is then up the officer to decide based on the evidence and information provided whether something was deliberate or not.

 

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ccmmanual/CCM10750.htm

 

We have seen notional entitlement refused on many of these case recently. It all depends on the reason why it wasn't reported.