In this section:
- Problems with your tax credits – where to start
- Reasons why your tax credits might go down or stop
- Putting mistakes right once you've sent in your tax credits claim
- Tax credits - rights and responsibilities
Putting mistakes right once you've sent in your tax credits claim
If you realise you've made a mistake on your claim form you must put it right as quickly as possible. If you don't you could get either too much tax credits - which you'll usually have to pay back - or you won’t be paid enough.
On this page:
- If you realise you've made a mistake on your claim
- Putting things right if you haven't had an award notice yet
- Putting things right if you've already had an award notice
- Taking reasonable care when you fill in your claim form
- If the Tax Credit Office contacts you about your claim
- If you give wrong information on purpose
- Contact the Tax Credit Office
- More useful links
If you realise you've made a mistake on your claim
Tell the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible if you've made a mistake on your claim form. Give them the correct information so they can pay you the right amount of money.
You can tell the Tax Credit Office about the mistake by phoning or writing to them.
What happens next depends on when you spotted the mistake. You might have spotted it while you were still waiting to hear about your claim. Or you might have noticed it after you started getting tax credit payments.
Putting things right if you haven't had an award notice yet
If you're still waiting to hear about your claim when you spot the mistake, contact the Tax Credit Office as soon as you can and give them the right information. If possible, phone rather than write - it's quicker.
If they haven't yet worked out how much you'll get they'll take the new information into account. They'll use it to decide whether you can get any tax credits and if so how much.
When you get your tax credits award notice it will tell you what you're entitled to, based on the new information you've given.
Example
Rose has three children. She filled in a claim form in December 2008, but forgot to include one of her children on the form.
A week later she realised her mistake and called the Tax Credit Office to tell them. Because they hadn't yet worked out how much tax credits Rose could get, they were able to take her third child into account.
So Rose got the right amount of tax credits for her three children from the date when she first made her claim.
Putting things right if you've already had an award notice
If you've already had an award notice - and perhaps some payments - when you spot the mistake, contact the Tax Credit Office to give them the right information. Perhaps you've looked at your award notice and it doesn't show what you were expecting. You should get in touch with the Tax Credit Office within 30 days of spotting the mistake.
What happens next depends on whether the new information you give means you'll get more tax credits or less.
If you're entitled to more tax credits
You may get more tax credits because of the new information you give. If so, the extra payments can only be backdated for up to three months, usually from the date you told the Tax Credit Office about the change. So it's important to tell the Tax Credit Office as soon as possible to avoid missing out on extra money.
Tax credits go up - an example
John has three children. He filled in a claim form in July 2008, but forgot to include one of his children on the form.
When John got his tax credits award later in July it was just based on the two children he'd included on his claim form.
In November 2008 John realised his mistake and called the Tax Credit Office to tell them. They worked out his award again and increased his tax credits to take his third child into account. They backdated the increase for three months - back to August 2008.
If you're entitled to less tax credits
If you should be getting less tax credits because of the new information you give, the Tax Credit Office will go right back to the date when you claimed. They'll look at what you've been paid since that date and compare it with what you should have had. If you've been paid too much you'll have to pay the extra back.
The Tax Credit Office looks into some awards to make sure they're right. If you tell them about your mistake before they look into your award then you may not have to pay a penalty. But this can depend on whether you took 'reasonable care' when you filled in your claim form.
You can find out what reasonable care means in the section below.
Find out more about repaying overpaid tax credits
Taking reasonable care when you fill in your claim form
You took reasonable care when you filled in your tax credits claim form if you:
- Filled it in as fully and as accurately as you could. You must have believed that all the information you gave was true and correct to the best of your knowledge.
- Read any notes and guidance to help you fill in the form.
- Asked someone to help you fill in the form if you needed help.
Reasonable care can be different for different people. To help you decide if you took reasonable care you could think about:
- how experienced you are with financial matters and tax credits
- how much help and support you could have got
- your health and well-being, including any disability you have
Example - someone who took reasonable care
Nihal claimed tax credits for his son, Parveen. But his ex-wife Lila had already made a claim for Parveen. The Tax Credit Office investigated Nihal's claim because it was the second claim for the same child.
The investigation found that Nihal and Lila share responsibility for Parveen. He spends half his time at his mother's home and half at his father's. But Nihal didn't know that Lila had already claimed.
They decided that Lila was Parveen's main carer, so only she could claim tax credits for him. But even though Nihal couldn't get tax credits for Parveen, it wasn't unreasonable for him to think that he could. He took reasonable care when he made his claim.
Example - someone who didn't take reasonable care
When Liam filled in his claim form, he wrote down his income from his job as £6,850. But he accidentally wrote the numbers the wrong way around - it should have been £8,650.
Liam just made a mistake and wasn't trying to get more tax credits than he should. But he should have checked his form properly before he sent it. By making a mistake and then not checking properly he was careless. He didn't take reasonable care when he claimed.
If the Tax Credit Office contacts you about your claim
If you don't spot that you've made a mistake you might not realise it until the Tax Credit Office contacts you. They'll check your claim when they get it and look into things if they think something may be wrong.
If they spot a mistake they'll check that you took reasonable care when you filled in your form.
Find out more about tax credit checks
If you give wrong information on purpose
If you deliberately put wrong information on your claim form then you may:
- get too much tax credits and have to repay them
- have to pay interest on the extra amount
- have to pay a penalty of up to £3,000
Find out what the Tax Credit Office does to stop fraud
Contact the Tax Credit Office
If you need more help you can call the Tax Credit Helpline which is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The numbers you can ring are:
- tel 0845 300 3900
- textphone 0845 300 3909 - if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment
If you're outside the UK you can also call on Tel + 44 289 053 8192.
More useful links
Check your rights and responsibilities when you claim tax credits
Check when you can expect your first tax credits payment
