Tax credits are payments from the government. If you're responsible for at least one child or young person, you may qualify for Child Tax Credit. If you work, but are on a low income, you may qualify for Working Tax Credit. You can often get both types of tax credits. They aren't taxable.
On this page:
If you've got children you could get tax credits, but you don't need to have children to claim. You may also qualify if you are working and on a low income.
Check if you qualify for tax credits - quick questionnaire
You may get one of the following - or both.
Working Tax Credit is based on the hours you work and get paid for, or expect to be paid for. You can claim whether you're an employee or a self-employed person. But unpaid work doesn't count for Working Tax Credit.
What counts as work for Working Tax Credit?
Child Tax Credit is paid to you if you are responsible for at least one child or young person who normally lives with you. You don't have to be working to claim Child Tax Credit.
You have children - can you get tax credits for them?
The amount of tax credits you get depends on things like:
Your payments also depend on your income. The lower your income, the more tax credits you can get.
Tax credits calculator - find out how much you can get
How your tax credits entitlement is worked out
Whether you can get tax credits, and how much you can get, depends on your own circumstances.
As a very rough guide, if your annual income is not above one of the following 'limits', you can probably get tax credits:
These are the limits for getting tax credits in the current
tax year - ending on 5 April 2014.
You're not likely to get anything if your income is above
these amounts. But it's important to know that:
For a better idea of whether you're likely to qualify for tax credits based on your income, you can use:
The entitlement tables are only a rough guide to how much you could get for the current tax year - ending on 5 April 2014. They will be updated with the amounts for the next tax year on 6 April 2014.
You don't work but have children: entitlement table
You work but also have children: entitlement tables
You work but have no children: entitlement tables
Check if you qualify for tax credits - quick questionnaire
Your income before tax and National Insurance is taken into account. When you first claim tax credits, your income from the year that ended on 5 April 2013 is used. If you're in a couple, your joint income is used.
Earnings from work and some state benefits count as income.
'Other' income also counts. This can include interest on savings,
pensions or income from property - but only if the total amount
was more than £300 for the year. The actual amount of any
savings you might have doesn’t affect tax credits.
You'll usually need to make a joint claim for tax credits if you are any of the following:
You can usually only make a single claim if you don't fall
into one of these groups.
Tax credits are paid directly into your bank, building society,
Post Office® or National Savings account if it accepts Direct
Payment. Payments are either weekly or every four weeks.
If you're both working and you both qualify for Working Tax Credit, you can decide which one of you will get the payments.
Couples claiming Child Tax Credit need to decide who is the children's main carer. If you're the main carer then the money will be paid to you.
If you're making a new claim, your payments will usually run from the date of your claim to the end of the tax year. For example, if you make a claim on 10 November 2013, your payments will be worked out from that date until 5 April 2014. Claims can usually be backdated for up to one month - sometimes longer - from the date the Tax Credit Office received your claim form.
Tax credits payments are not counted as taxable income.
Each year during April, May or June the Tax Credit Office will write to you asking you to:
This is known as 'renewing' your tax credits claim. The deadline for renewing is usually 31 July.
You need to renew to make sure that the payments you've been getting were correct. It also allows the Tax Credit Office to base your payments for the year ahead on the right amount of income.
Sometimes the Tax Credit Office will have paid you too much or not enough. If this happens they will make an adjustment to make sure that your payments are correct. Any payments made from 6 April 2014 to the date on which you renew your claim are temporary (or 'provisional'). If you don't renew, you may be asked to pay them back.
If your circumstances change at any time this can affect the amount of money you should be getting. Things like starting a new job, splitting up with a partner or having a baby can all make a difference to your tax credits.
Contact the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible to tell them about any changes. To do this you can call the Tax Credit Helpline, or write to the Tax Credit Office. But you can't report changes online for tax credits.
Tax credits: changes you need to report and when
Contact details for the Tax Credit Helpline and Office
When to make a joint or single tax credits claim
