Backdated tax demand and Housing Benefit

I recently received an underpayment tax demand of over £1300 for the 08/09 an 09/10tax years because the cumulative amount of IB and an Occ Pen is now being looked at.

Initially I thought that this would be taken into account by the local Housing Benefit folk but instead I have been told that (i) they only assess claims on income at the time and (ii) in any case I'm outwith the 52 week period where I could question it (because I moved in with my wife at the end of July 2009 and stopped claiming HB).

I have sent off a letter to HMRC (and also local MP) about this but I'm not sure whether the hardship the tax demand will cause me is really any of their concern. No doubt I'll be quoted some legislation that means that they don't take these kinds of situations into account. I've already read some of the stuff on ESC A19 and I don't think it applies.

I feel that I'm being doubly penalised (i) because, in effect, my HB was wrongly calculated and (ii) now I'm also being expected to repay the tax.

Being on IB and being hit with such a whack, and then finding myself 'up the creek' as far as any of the local or government agencies are concerned is no fun. I'm thinking there must be thousands of people across the country who are being similarly affected by this, and it's just not right.

choogle wrote:

I recently received an underpayment tax demand of over £1300 for the 08/09 an 09/10tax years because the cumulative amount of IB and an Occ Pen is now being looked at.

Initially I thought that this would be taken into account by the local Housing Benefit folk but instead I have been told that (i) they only assess claims on income at the time and (ii) in any case I'm outwith the 52 week period where I could question it (because I moved in with my wife at the end of July 2009 and stopped claiming HB).

I have sent off a letter to HMRC (and also local MP) about this but I'm not sure whether the hardship the tax demand will cause me is really any of their concern. No doubt I'll be quoted some legislation that means that they don't take these kinds of situations into account. I've already read some of the stuff on ESC A19 and I don't think it applies.

I feel that I'm being doubly penalised (i) because, in effect, my HB was wrongly calculated and (ii) now I'm also being expected to repay the tax.

Being on IB and being hit with such a whack, and then finding myself 'up the creek' as far as any of the local or government agencies are concerned is no fun. I'm thinking there must be thousands of people across the country who are being similarly affected by this, and it's just not right.

As Moderators our area of expertise is in relation to disability living allowance, attendance allowance, the personal capability assessment used in connection with incapacity benefits and the work capability assessment used in connection with employment and support allowance. So those are the only subjects on which we can provide reliable information.

Unfortunately, you also need to bear in mind that boards like this can never provide advice to individual claimants about their specific circumstances, all we can offer is general information about how the system works.

This is because there are huge range of factors which could affect your eligibility and it’s not possible or advisable for you to disclose that information on a public forum or for us to ask you the kind of questions that would be required.

We understand that this can be frustrating and that it’s sometimes a question of judgement about the degree to which a question is specific to your claim or more general in nature. But, for our sake and your own it is important that we do our best to stick to giving information rather than advice.

See this link on how to obtain face to face advice on your personal situation:

How can I get individual help with a specific benefits problem?

Pete

Hi Choogle,

Re the tax demand, as pete says it's not our area of expertise, but see this article in the News section:

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/latest-ne...-underpayment-demand

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group seem confident these demands can be written off.

Good luck,

Steve