Overpayments because you have missed the renewal deadline

There are some special issues which apply in some cases. One of these might apply to you:

• Overpayments because you have missed the renewal deadline
• Overpayments because HMRC has cancelled your claim by treating you as part of a couple when you were making a claim as a single person (or by treating you as single when you were claiming as part of a couple)
• Overpayments because HMRC has cancelled a disability element

If you miss the deadline of 31 July for renewing you tax credit claim, your tax credit payments will stop. You then have a 30 day grace period. If you contact HMRC within this period then your tax credit award will be re-instated. There should be no overpayment. (Exceptionally, HMRC may extend this to a 60 day period of grace; so contact HMRC at once if you have missed the deadline, even if you are more than 30 days late).

If you don’t contact HMRC within the period, your claim for the current tax year will be cancelled, resulting in an overpayment for the tax credits already received during the current tax year. Even if you make a new claim at once, you will face an overpayment. This is because claims may only be backdated for 1 months ( from 6 April 2012).  By 30 days from 31 July – that is 30 August it is already almost 5 months from 5 April. So you will have a gap of around 3 months as a minimum.

If this happens, you need to show a good reason why you missed the 31 July deadline. Good reason might include that you

• You could not complete the form or reply earlier due to exceptional circumstances (for example because  you were prevented from doing for by physically or mentally illness between receiving the form and the due date), or
• You could not make arrangements for someone else to handle your affairs, or
• you were able to complete the form but unable to post it, or posted it but HMRC says it was never received

Even if your good reason is not accepted, you may still ask for time to pay or a reduction in the overpayment because of financial hardship.