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Disabled people and tax credits

Disabled people and tax credits

If you have a disability and usually work 16 hours or more a week, you may be able to get extra tax credits.

Who's entitled to the extra money?

To qualify, you have to meet all of these conditions:

you must usually work for 16 hours or more a week
you must have a disability that makes it hard for you to get a job
you must be receiving, or have recently received, a qualifying sickness or disability-related benefit

If you're not sure if you qualify, call the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 or check the help notes for the tax credits claim form.

Download the help notes for the tax credits claim form (PDF 667K)

Extra payments for severe disability

If you - and/or your partner - get the Highest Rate Care Component of Disability Living Allowance or the Higher Rate of Attendance Allowance, you may qualify for an extra amount of tax credit because of your severe disability.

For couples, it doesn't have to be the person with the disability who is working, as long as one of you usually works 16 hours or more each week.

Get details of Disability Living Allowance rates on the Directgov website

Get details of Attendance Allowance rates on the Directgov website

How much will you get?

In this tax year - 6 April 2008 to 5 April 2009 - on top of your basic Working Tax Credit you could get:

£2,405 a year, that is around £46 a week, if you are disabled
£3,425 a year, that is around £66 a week, if you are severely disabled

The amount you get also depends on other money you have coming in.

Disability Living Allowance doesn't count as income when your tax credits are worked out.
Other benefits like Carer's Allowance do count as income, and can reduce your tax credit payments.

To find out more about how much you may get, call the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 or use our calculator.

Find out how much you may be entitled to using our tax credits calculator

How to claim

If you're not currently getting tax credits

You need to fill in a claim form, which you can get by ringing the Tax Credit Helpline.

If you've made a claim for a qualifying sickness or disability-related benefit, don't wait to hear about that before you send in the form. Just leave Box 1.11 or 1.12 blank, and send a letter with the form, telling us about your claim. If you are later told that you are entitled to the benefit, let us know straight away. If you do this, your tax credits payments will be backdated to the earliest possible date.

If you already get tax credits

Let us know as soon as you make a claim for a qualifying sickness or disability-related benefit. If you are later told that you are entitled to the benefit, let us know straight away. If you do this, your extra tax credits payments will be backdated to the earliest possible date.

Contact us

You can contact our Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm seven days a week except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day).