Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Miss Begg
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the amount of money outstanding from tax credit overpayments made in (a) 2003-04 and (b) 2004-05 not arising from fraud on the part of the claimant.

Mr. Timms
The information is not available.

Information relating to outstanding overpayments, including that arising from fraud on the part of the claimant, of 2003-04 and 2004-05 tax credit awards is contained in part 2, table 11 of the report by the comptroller and auditor general, in the HM Revenue and Customs 2007-08 accounts. The publication is available on the HMRC website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-dep-acct0708.pdf