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»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Tax Credits (Claims and Notifications) Regulations 2002, Regs 17 and 18

Some claimants may not be able to manage their own affairs. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýappy may not be able to handle money or be able to understand forms.

In such cases another person may act on their behalf. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýappse people are called appointees.

Who can be an appointee?

An appointee will be a person who:

• has been appointed by the Court of Protection; or
• in Scotland is a tutor, curator or any other legally appointed guardian, or
• in Northern Ireland is a controller appointed by the High Court, or
• has been appointed by the Department for Work and Pensions (in relation to claims for benefits or other tax credits).

If a person hasn’t been appointed in the above conditions a person may apply in writing to the Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs to be appointed to act on a claimant’s behalf and Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs may then appoint that person to act.

For the Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs to appoint an appointee:

• appointee must be at least 18 years old.
• the appointee does not need to be related to the claimant.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp appointee takes on the full responsibility for making any claim, this means:

• they must sign the claim instead of the claimant and are responsible for notifying the Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs of any changes, which may affect entitlement,
• the claimant actually remains liable for any overpayment although the appointee will no doubt be involved in the process of recovering an overpayment, particularly from a subsequent award,
• appointees can be liable to penalties, if it was the appointee who knowingly provided wrong information.

Appointees can resign from their appointment by giving one month’s notice in writing.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs can terminate an appointment at any time and an appointment automatically ends if another person is appointed to act by the Courts.