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Checking your tax credits award notice
How Child Benefit, tax credits and Guardian's Allowance are paid
When can you expect your first tax credits payment?
Reasons why your tax credits might go down or stop
You've been overpaid tax credits - how did this happen?

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You've been overpaid tax credits - how did this happen?

You've been overpaid tax credits - how did this happen?

The Tax Credit Office work out how much to pay you from what you tell us about your income and family circumstances. Sometimes we can pay you too much money, an overpayment. This can happen for a variety of reasons.

Why were you overpaid?

You could have built up an overpayment if:

you didn't tell us about a change of circumstance that affects your payments - such as a child leaving full time education
your payments were based on wrong information about your personal situation
you didn't renew your tax credits on time
we made a mistake recording the information you gave us
we didn't act on information you gave us

If you have been overpaid, this will be shown on your award notice.

Tax credits - rights and responsibilities

You didn't tell us about a change of circumstances

Tax credits are flexible and change when your life changes. Not telling us about a change of circumstances is one of the main reasons why people are overpaid tax credits and have to pay back the money.

When you tell us about a change of circumstances, we recalculate your award for the whole year or from the time you claimed or told us about the change until 5 April.

If you don't tell us about a change that affects your tax credits, for example you separate from your partner, we won't know about it until you confirm your actual circumstances when you renew your tax credits after the end of the year. At this point we check whether the money you have received matches your income and circumstances. It may turn out that you have not received all the money you should (an underpayment). Or if you have received too much money (an overpayment) your current tax credits payments - if you still qualify - are usually reduced to repay the money.

Any change of circumstances that could mean your tax credit payments go down, such as a child leaving full time education must be reported to us within one month or you could end up with an overpayment and be charged a penalty of up to £300.

Any change of circumstances that could mean your tax credit payments go up, such as having a baby, has to be reported to us. It's better to do it straight away as the increase in payments can only be backdated by up to three months.

The checklist that came with your award notice will tell you which changes to report within one month. It's also a good idea to tell us about any other changes straight away to avoid an overpayment. You can tell us about any changes by calling the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900, textphone 0845 300 3909.

Find out which changes you need to tell us about and when

Your payments were based on the wrong details

Your tax credits are based on your personal circumstances. These are things like:

whether you're single or part of a couple
how many children you've got
how many hours a week you work

So it's important you give us the right details about your circumstances on your claim form.

How to avoid common mistakes on your tax credits claim form

You didn't renew your tax credits on time

If you're getting tax credits, we'll send you a renewal pack between April and June each year. You use this to tell us if your circumstances or income has changed. We can then work out whether we paid you the right money last year and whether we should carry on paying you the same tax credits during this year.

The deadline for all replies to the annual review is shown on your Annual Review form - usually 31 July. The sooner you check your details and tell us of any changes, the sooner we can make sure you get the money you're entitled to. If you don't renew your tax credits, you may only receive payments for a limited period after the end of the tax year and you'll have to repay any overpayment.

Why your tax credits claim has to be renewed

We made a mistake on your award notice

When you claim tax credits for the first time, or tell us about a change of circumstance, we will send you an award notice. It is our responsibility to put the right information on your award notice based on information you give us. It is important that you check your award notice carefully using the checklist that comes with it. If we've made a mistake it may mean you are not getting all the money you are entitled to, or you could be building up an overpayment. You must tell us within one month if something is wrong, missing or incomplete, we will put it right and send you a new award notice. In this case, you may not have to pay back all of your overpayment.

If there's anything on your award notice that you don't understand, or you're not sure if we've made a mistake, call the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900, textphone 0845 300 3909.

Find out how to check your tax credits award notice

We didn't act on information you gave us

When you contact us to tell us about a change in circumstance, it's our responsibility to record the information and send you an award notice within 30 days. If you don't get an award notice within 30 days, you should tell us immediately. In this case, you may not have to pay back all of your overpayment.

How to dispute an overpayment

Contact us

You can contact our Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, seven days a week except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day).