HMRC Tax Credit crackdown misses target by "a mile"

"It's no surprise is it. They don't understand their own systems. When they deal with you they are rude and arrogant. This is mainly because they ALWAYS think they are in the right and do not listen to explanations, even when it is their fault the problem has occured in the first place." I totally agree with the above as am having a dispute with HMRC as we speak and its scary!! I have been disputing my "overpayment" since end September 2012 and all I have received from them is misleading advice and information in the most robotic manner that its actually quite disgusting and they will not give me a breakdown or relevant explanation but refer me to a credit reference agency which I did but am no further forward....does anyone know how I can persuade them that I AM a single mother with 3 kids who has only allowed their ex-partner to use the address for him to have mail forwarded to? The house is jointly owned by us but we have the agreement that the house will be sold once the youngest child has finished schooling. I pay all the bills including the mortgage and have provided copies of my payslip/bills/bank statements etc but to no avail. They are now demanding £13,500 which can be paid over a 12 month payment plan.....how thoughtful eh? Except that what they expect me to pay each month, I dont even earn in one month!!! And may I add they also confirmed that it was perfectly fine to allow someone to have their mail forwarded to your address so basically feel as if I am damned if I do, damned if I dont : ( I dont know enough about this topic as have never been on the dole/benefits etc. When I first contacted them, I was lied to and what advice they asked for in the first conversation was firmly denied in the second but as working as a PA for 17 years, I think, or rather hope, that I am more than capable of taking a telephone message properly and I know that the robot lied to me. Can anyone advise a desperate and extremely worried mum with regards to how I can prove I am single....which I did not think would be hard but have found out otherwise and also will my bank account be frozen therefore stopping me from paying my mortgage etc. Where do I stand as am at the end of my tether and dont want to speak with them on the phone as would prefer to have their replies in writing now. I have done nothing wrong but as you say they think they are right and that the world is just plain black and white when unfortunately these days it is just a mass of ugly dark colours. I have worked since I was 14 years old and if this is what my tax has been paying for the past 27 years then what a waste of my hard-earned money!! Any comments would be much appreciated please.

When HMRC force higher tax payers, and there are more and more of us each year as the threshold gets ever lower, to do their own accounting instead of collecting the money at source then fraud will happen. My company has a share scheme and HMRC collects tax on the dividend at source. For lower rate tax payers that;s the end of the matter. For higher tax payers we have to fill in a horrifically complicated tax return to pay an additional 22%. Why not just collect it at source? The mechanism is there to collect the first 10%. I don't have a huge salary but due to the constant reduction in allowances I've become one and have to spend days doing complicated forms that could be dealt with automatically instead. I guess some people aren't trying to commit fraud, they are just overwhelmed by the forms. Before anyone scoffs and says "don't earn so much" just wait until you become a higher tax payer... at this rate anyone who works more than 20 hours a week will be higher tax within 10 years.

The basic problem is that the taxation system is far too complicated