Payment Returned Or Not Received (Introduction )

Tax credit payments are made by sending a cashcheque through the post or by making a direct payment to a claimant’s nominated account. Most of these payments are made successfully, but a small proportion fail for a variety of reasons. A payment may not be made into an account because

• The claimant has given the wrong account number
   
• The number has been mistyped when it was captured
   
• A cashcheque may have been lost or stolen
   
• A cashcheque may not have been delivered

Or

• The cashcheque may have been damaged

When a payment fails, the claimant will first contact a Contact Centre or Enquiry Centre, and the advisers there will investigate the cause of the problem that has prevented the payment from being made and, where possible, they will correct the problem. This action will not always

• Replace the payment that has failed

And sometimes

• They will not be able to resolve the problem

In these circumstances they will refer the failed payment to TCO for further investigation and for the missing payment to be replaced

This section of the Manual provides guidance on dealing with

• Referrals for failed BACS payments
   
• Returned cashcheques
   
• Completed declaration forms TC241