Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 249940, whether the tax credit debt written off in 2011-12 as part of the Older Inactive Debts Policy was included in the figure for pre-2011-12 debt.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The tax credit debt written off in 2011-12 as part of the Older Inactive Debts Policy is not included in the pre-2011-12 debt figure of 16% provided in the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 249940.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many claimants have disputed a recovery of tax credit overpayment using (a) form TC846 and (b) another means of raising a dispute in each of the last five years.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC does not record data on the breakdown of the source of the receipt (TC846, paper, iform, other) so the information requested is not available.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of disputes of tax credit overpayments have (a) been written off and not collected, (b) been reduced and (c) proceeded to collection in full in each of the last five years.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC does not record data broken down to this level of detail so the information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people claiming tax credits who have an overpayment in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave her on 11 January 2019, UIN: 206456. Updated estimates will be published in Summer 2019.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the £6.9 billion of tax credit debt has been held by HMRC (a) for more than seven years, (b) between two and seven years and (c) less than two years.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The £6.9 billion of tax credit debt in 2017/18 is net £0.3billion of debt that was transferred to DWP. A breakdown of the age of tax credits debt is only readily available on the gross debt estimate of £7.2 billion. This shows that (a) 16 per cent relates to the 2010-11 award year or older, (b) 52 per cent relates to award years between 2011/12 to 2015/16, and (c) 29 per cent relates to the 2016/17 award year or after.