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#NotMyDebt Shared Stories

Family Tax Scam

Honestly, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to be able to appeal the amounts but I am so horribly stressed as to the outcome. I have two children under 5 to support. I hid the debt from my partner for such a long time because I was embarrassed that I had made so many mistakes that would cost us this amount of money. We are trying to save for a home but I doubt this will happen now. It had put such a large strain on both my relationship with my husband and my mental health.

Jumping through hoops

I was working one day a week, meeting with a job agency one week and Centrelink the other week. I handed payslips in to the job agency, where they were scanned and added to my file. I applied for jobs, I trialed at a few, during which I did not get paid. Three years later, and three years off payments, I get the debt letter. I was young, and very scared of what all this meant. Even though I knew I did everything right, I still had this large sum of money I was told I had stolen from Centrelink.

Debt Appealed and found incorrect

Receiving the letter, I felt a sense of doom. Yes I am now working full time and my financial situation has improved, but not too the point where I had a spare $900 to give them on demand.

Debacle of calculations and contacts

Firstly I had a series of 'silent number' calls with a fuzzy message but heard "human services" and to press 1, which then went dead. After two of these I called Centrelink who had no messages on my file and suggested they were hoax calls and to ignore them. After another two I called again and eventually got put though to the Compliance Team who said there was a discrepancy between my tax return and income claimed.

False Robodebt Cleared

Although my debt has been cleared, I wanted to share my experience in the hope that it will help reassure others that this is not only a horrific injustice but definitely a computer system failure that the government and all those involved need to be held accountable for. My debt first appeared, out of seemingly no where, with just a letter saying I had a debt. It didn't say by when I had to pay it by or for what it was.

Unbelievable

I’m in utter shock
How am I supposed to re pay this ? I’m not working
I am a single parent with two children one with special needs / autism which I receive carer payment from
I cannot work as I am his full time carer
Again I’m in shock
Feel numb
Anxiety levels are high
I feel like giving up
Why do the right thing and follows the rules and still get a smack in the face
Depression is not far away I am feeling the darkness but I’m trying to keep my head together

Discrepancy due to payslip going in to new year

I received a letter from Centrelink in 2017 about an apparent discrepancy between my taxable income and reported income for the 14/15 financial year. They asked me to enter my payslip amounts for the entire year for three jobs into their system. Luckily I was able to find a record of all of these. After this time consuming process, I was able to figure out the reason for the 'discrepancy'. The system had missed one of my reporting periods that spanned from the end of the financial year into the new year.

Over $10,000 of proposed debt reduced to $0

I was recovering from a bout of clinical depression for which I was receiving treatment when I first received notification of the proposed debt. This was communicated to me over the phone during business hours when I was at work. I quickly became distressed and upset upon being told that I owed over $10,000 to the department of human services. No justification for this proposed "over payment" was provided. I conducted my own investigation and attempted to recover evidence of my earnings during the period being disputed.

A debt that didn't exist

TL;DR - centrelink lost my rental documents, as such robodebt claims my rental assistance was invalid, provide rental documents, find out I UNDERCLAIMED $200, ask for $200 from centrelink, get rejected because claim was OVER 5 YEARS AGO ??? (WHY CAN THEY CHASE ME FOR "DEBT" OVER 5 YEARS AGO)

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I don't have any paper work from back then I was unable to appeal

They called me saying that there is income discrepancy from ATO and my centrelink, however I was 120% sure I've updated my income statement with centrelink, but when I check with them after receiving the letter they said the amount for $0. I was adamant but as I don't have any paper work from back then I was unable to appeal and prove that it was their mistake. I now owe centrelink $3500.

Now homeless

Going through divorce, lost my father, lost my job, all in last month.. do my tax hoping to use that money to help me until I get new job... Waiting for my tax return to find out they have taken my whole $5800 return!! After I appealed the robo debt and went there with all my paper work to prove it was wrong not once but twice because the lost my paper work... Not one letter not one call nothing for over a year... Done my tax in 2018 they didn't touch it ... But no when I'm jobless they decided to take it after I clearly didn't no it was still there ....

severe toll on my mental health

When I first received the letter informing me of my debt, I knew there must have been some kind of mistake. I had been on Youth Allowance as a high school and undergrad student, and was always diligent in recording my fortnightly income.
I only went on Newstart after experiencing a mental health crisis and being unable to work for 6 months.
This was the only time since age 15 that I had been unemployed.

False debt, no action, inscrutable system

This debt has come at a time where I'm venturing out to start my own business.

Money is tight, stress levels are high and there are so many balls in the air that I have to juggle – this debt is a source of stress, anxiety, and frustration.

now I get a massive $100 each week to live on

1 DEAD 2 DEAD 3 DEAD 4 DEAD - me INCLUDED and due medical I am still here so Centrelink has killed me TWICE now
as first time when Centrelink arbitrarily stopped my concession card (no reason provided by Centrelink and no warning) so with only $10 to my name so my $6 concession-priced heart medicine suddenly $20 (remember I have only $10 to my name that time) so I did not buy my heart medicine HAD A HEART ATTACK and died

worried about losing my house, my animals, and my life

This debt caused me months of stress and anxiety, months of not sleeping or eating properly, severe suicidal ideations, feeling of complete hopelessness.
I felt like I had done something wrong when I hadn't.

I worried about losing my house, my animals, and my life.
Just basically not being able to live a comfortable life for as long as I could picture, to me it felt like my life was ending before I had actually lived any of it.

unfair and unjust

I spoke to Human Services late March 2019 and Probe Group, debt amount $800 plus $100. I discussed with the collection agency and filed an appeal which I have not received a response until I received a centre-link letter dated before my call payment of debt amount.

I am having a lot of stress for I am trying hard to catch up with all my financial loss since 2014 when I had an operation from my brain tumour and lost my business.

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