Tax credits overpayments
If you do not repay HMRC
If you get a ‘notice to pay’ you must repay HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) within 30 days. If you asked for more time to pay you should repay within the agreed time.
HMRC will take ‘enforcement action’ if you do not pay all the money you owe in the agreed time. For example, they might ask a debt collection agency to collect any remaining money.
Your debt may be passed to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if HMRC cannot get the money you owe. You’ll get a letter called a ‘TC1131 (non-UC)’ when this happens.
Your debt will be passed to the Department for Communities (DfC) if you’re in Northern Ireland.
You do not need to do anything - DWP or DfC will arrange the most suitable method of recovery with you. This might be by:
- reducing your other benefits
- agreeing a repayment plan with you
- asking your employer to take money from your earnings (‘Direct Earnings Attachment’)
- asking a debt collection agency to collect the money
If you start getting Universal Credit
If you start getting Universal Credit before all your debt has been recovered, DWP will usually start to take repayments from your Universal Credit to collect the remaining money.