TCM0224200 - Payment - overpayments (A-C): Overpayments - certificate of debt - explanation

Use this guidance when an explanation is required by Debt Management and Banking (DMB)

  • when an overpayment hasn’t been repaid
    and
  • the explanation is needed in order to proceed with enforcement action through the court.

An explanation of how the overpayment happened is normally required when

  • the Recovery Office commence County Court action
    and
  • the customer enters a defence.

The Recovery Office will send a request for an explanation to Tax Credit Office along with a Certificate of Debt. Following the initial court proceedings, if the judge in the case directs that more evidence is required, DMB may request a further explanation and/or information.

To deal with a request for an explanation from Debt Management and Banking (DMB) of how an overpayment occurred, consider steps 1 to 9.

Step 1

If the request is for

  • a defence explanation, go to Step 2.
  • further information following a previous defence explanation, go to Step 6.

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Step 2

To determine the reason for the overpayment, follow the guidance in TCM0224140 from step 5 to step 33.

Note: If the case is affected by an Extended Action Request System (EARS), you must suspend recovery of the overpayment. Follow the guidance in TCM0226100 and then refer the case to your Technical Advice Line Liaison Officer (TALLO).

  • If you’ve established that the reason for the overpayment
    • wasn’t due to official error, because there had been no mistake on the part of HMRC or another government department (that is, HMRC has met all of its responsibilities), the overpayment is recoverable, go to Step 4.
    • was due to official error (that is, HMRC hasn’t meet all of its responsibilities)
      • consider the overpayment on its individual merits against the responsibilities criteria in the Code of Practice 26 (COP 26). Follow the guidance in TCM0224280
        then
      • go to Step 3.

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Step 3

If you decide the overpayment is

  • recoverable, go to Step 4.
  • non-recoverable, follow the guidance in TCM0224140 from step 37
  • partially recoverable, follow the guidance in TCM0224140 from step 36 and then go to step 37
    then, after remitting any non-recoverable overpayments, you must return to this guidance and continue with your action
  • go to Step 4.

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Step 4

Prepare a written explanation detailing all the reasons for the overpayments

Note: You must provide all the reasons for the overpayment(s) and you must address all the issues that the customer raised in their defence statement.

Note: If you’ve remitted all or part of the overpayment, you must include details of the amounts remitted and the reasons why the overpayment amount was remitted.

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Step 5

Send the explanation of the overpayments to the DMB officer who requested the information

Note: In some cases, DMB will request that the reply be emailed to a group email address, rather than to the individual who completed the stencil. This will be clearly marked on the stencil you receive from DMB.

  • when you’ve emailed the explanation to DMB
    • print a copy of the information you have sent in the email and store it with the casepapers
    • delete the email from all of your email folders, including the ‘Deleted Items’ folder
    • if you saved a copy of the explanation document in Word, the saved file stored on your Z:drive should also be deleted
      Note: This is to ensure that HMRC complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation.
    • go to Step 8.

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Step 6

Retrieve the case papers from the BF run to establish what information DMB require that wasn’t included in the original explanation provided

  • use Function MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES and select the ‘Debt Recovery’ category to record the following
    ‘TCMZ Request for further information received from DMB. Requested case papers / scanned image (delete as appropriate) XX / Group XX’
    Note: You must follow the guidance in TCM0152060 when you record the note and also follow the guidance in TCM0152160.
    then
  • BF the case awaiting retrieval of the casepapers
  • when you receive the casepapers and/or scanned image, go to Step 7.

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Step 7

Send the information to DMB

  • If the DMB officer has stated that the additional information is required urgently, fax the information to the number they have provided on the stencil
  • If the request for further information isn’t marked as urgent, send it to the DMB officer by Taxpost Direct to the address on the stencil
    Note: If the DMB officer requested copies of any claim forms, send photocopies of any claim forms that have been manually captured. Don’t send the original documents
    Note: If the claim was captured by Rapid Data Capture (RDC), you must
    • print two copies of the scanned image emailed to you
    • store one copy with the casepapers and one copy for DMB
      then
    • delete the email from all of your email folders, including the ‘Deleted Items’ folder. This is to ensure that HMRC complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation.
      Note: If the DMB officer has asked for copies of any phone call transcripts, you don’t need to request the transcripts as DMB can obtain this information direct from the Contact Centre.
    • go to Step 8.

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Step 8

Use Function MAINTAIN HOUSEHOLD NOTES and select the ‘Debt Recovery’ category to record the following, as appropriate

‘TCMZ Explanation emailed to (insert details of DMB officer) at xxxxxxxxxx Recovery Office. O/P is on single* / joint* household for tax year 03-04* / 04-05* / 05-06* / 06-07*. O/P reason is due to Compliance* / Contra Error* / Manual Payment* / Incorrect Data Entry* / Change of Circumstances* / Renewal Termination* / Misadvice* / System Error (please specify)* / PVE* (* delete as appropriate) xx/ xx(grp)’

‘TCMZ Further information requested for court hearing sent to (insert details of DMB officer) at xxxxxxxxxx Recovery Office by Fax / Tax post (delete as appropriate)’

Note: You must follow the guidance in TCM0152060 when you record the note and also follow the guidance in TCM0152160.

then

  • If DMB issued a Certificate of Debt for completion, follow the guidance in TCM0224220.
  • If DMB didn’t issue a Certificate of Debt for completion, go to Step 9.

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Step 9

Send all the documents to storage. Follow the guidance in TCM0074140.