Paying back child benefit
 

So our daughter was born February 2010 and we moved to Canada April 2011. We noticed we were still being paid child benefit allowance and wrote a letter to cancel it. Still it was being paid. Another letter wrote.

finally a reply - no explanation just a request for a large payment. In fact a payment which equals every bit of child benefit we ever received. This can not be right!

We wrote another letter and my wife called the tax office. It was going to be looked in to. Another letter is received - again no information or evidence - just a request for all the child benefit to be repaid.

Anyone had similar issues?

Re: Paying back child benefit
 

I remember a thread that began exactly like your first paragraph but I don't recall what happened. Maybe a search of the threads will find it.

Re: Paying back child benefit
 

I agree with you.

Why not just pay back the payments received after you moved to Canada. I would send the DSS proof of the date you left the UK and tell them that's it.


http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595851

Re: Paying back child benefit
 

We had a similar issue and made the repayment (they didn't calculate our one incorrectly). I lost count of the number of times we called them to cancel, in the end we faxed them, that seemed to do the trick.

I would say that it demonstrates the incompetence of the civil service, but Bristol will jump all over me, so I will say that their computer systems must suck:p

Re: Paying back child benefit
 

Computer systems usually do as they are told :rofl:

Thanks for the info - just going to send them the two months we do owe with proof of when we left UK and say if you want more you are going to have to say why :)