Answer

Dear Madam,

Generally, the original owner of the money will retain the right to retrieve the funds which they owe to the Government. You may be able to negoitate a system where you pay the ammount of money back slowly over time rather than taking a large a debt on board. Also, the things that an assessor will be likely to take into account int his type of situation would be to what degree you were aware of the error and what steps you took to correct the error if you were aware that you had been paid money which was not your own. Things that would indicate this would include the length of time you had to rectify or discover the error, whether it was obvious or insginificant and if your level of sophisication with financial matters would warrant that you made a closer examination. The fact that you have already returned as much as possible i an excellent step in the right direction. I think it should be quite easy for you to negoitate a plan with your employer to pay the money back slowly over time rather than having to pay it back in a lump sum. I hope that this is helpful.

Regards,

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