These examples show how the changes to tax credits could have affected payments from 6 April 2012. They won't tell you what your own entitlement is, but may give you a rough idea of how your tax credits could have been affected.
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You're married, have a child and both work 37 hours a week, with a joint income of £27,000 a year. You don't pay for registered or approved childcare.
In this example, your income was too high to get any payments of Working Tax Credit, or the child element of Child Tax Credit. But you would still have got the basic family element of Child Tax Credit of £545 for the year - roughly £10 a week.
From 6 April 2012, with one child you are not likely to get any payments of Child Tax Credit if your income is more than around £26,000.
So, if your circumstances have remained the same, you won't be entitled to any tax credits payments from 6 April 2012. But if your circumstances have changed it could make a difference.
In the same example, if you'd had a new baby, you'd still qualify for tax credits payments from 6 April 2012. Because of your income, you'd get tax credits at a reduced rate. Before the reduction is worked out, the most tax credits you could get from 6 April 2012 would be a total of £10,585. This is made up of the:
The total amount of £10,585 is reduced, because of your income. Your income is too high to get any payments of Working Tax Credit. But because you now have two children, your income limit for Child Tax Credit payments is now higher.
Your Child Tax Credit payments over the year would be £2,158, including the basic element of £545. This is roughly £41 a week.
You're married and have a child. You work 16 hours a week and your partner doesn't work. You have a yearly joint income of £13,000.
In this example you would have got Child Tax Credit, and a reduced amount of Working Tax Credit. Your payments over the year would have been £4,278 - roughly £81 a week.
Your partner isn't working, and you don't meet any of the exceptions - such as being aged 60 or over, or disabled. So you won't qualify for Working Tax Credit from 6 April 2012. In your situation, although you work 16 hours a week, your joint working hours need to be at least 24 a week to qualify. You only qualify for Child Tax Credit.
The most tax credits you could get from 6 April 2012 would be a total of £3,235, made up of the:
With a joint income of £13,000, you'll qualify for the full amount of £3,235 - roughly £62 a week.
This is roughly £19 a week less than what you were getting before.
You're single, working at least 30 hours a week, and have always had a yearly income of £12,000.
You got tax credits of £424 for the year - roughly £8 a week.
In May 2012, you estimate that your income for the year will go down to £10,000 - a reduction of £2,000.
Because this reduction is less than £2,500, it won't affect your tax credits payments until next year.
This means the amount of income taken into account when working out your new payments from 6 April 2012 will be £12,000, not £10,000.
Your tax credits payments over the year will roughly be the same.
Your new income of £10,000 will be taken into account when your payments are worked out for next year, starting on 6 April 2013.
You're in a couple, one of you works at least 30 hours a week and you have no children. You have always had a joint yearly income of £17,000.
You got tax credits of £325 for the year - roughly £6 a week.
In May 2012, you estimate that your income for the year will go down to £13,000 - a reduction of £4,000.
Because this reduction is more than £2,500, the Tax Credit Office will look at your lower income when working out your payments. But they will ignore the first £2,500 of the reduction.
This means the income taken into account for your new payments from 6 April 2012 will be £15,500 instead of £13,000.
Your tax credits payments for the year will increase to £945 - roughly £18 a week.
Your new income of £13,000 will be taken into account when your payments are worked out for next year, starting on 6 April 2013.
You're single, aged 51 and working 30 hours a week. You returned to work in 2011, after being on Jobseeker's Allowance for six months. Your annual income is £10,000.
You received Working Tax Credit of £3,275 for the year - roughly £62 a week. This included the extra amount called the '50-plus element'.
The '50-plus element' stopped from 6 April 2012. If your circumstances have stayed the same, your tax credits will reduce to £1,247 - roughly £23 a week.
In the same example, if you are working less than 30 hours a week, you won't qualify for Working Tax Credit from 6 April 2012.
This is because you need to work 30 hours a week if you're aged 25 or over, unless any of the following apply:
How your tax credits entitlement is worked out
