Tax credits

Child Tax Credit is a top-up benefit which is payable if you're responsible for a child and your income is low. You don't have to be the child's parent, but you must be responsible for the child as their main carer.

You claim Child Tax Credit on the same forms as Working Tax Credit. You can get both tax credits if your income is low enough. Child Tax Credit can be paid with or without Working Tax Credit. Tax credits are worked out annually but are usually paid weekly or every four weeks.

You don't have to be working to get Child Tax Credit and you can claim alongside other benefits. For instance, you can claim if you're unemployed and claiming income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, you're unable to work due to illness and claiming income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or you're a full-time carer claiming Income Support.

If your income is low or you're on benefits such as those above, you'll get maximum Child Tax Credit. If your income is above a set annual threshold, the amount of Child Tax Credit you can claim is less. The higher your income, the less Child Tax Credit you'll get.

A special rule allows you to get the family element of Child Tax Credit (£545 a year) if your income is up to £50,000 a year. If your income is above that level, you may still get reduced amounts of Child Tax Credit.

Who can claim Child Tax Credit?

You must be responsible for a child or young person. This means you're their main carer and they are:

• under 16,
• under 20 and in full-time 'non-advanced' education (at least 12 hours' supervised study or teaching a week, including GCSEs, A-levels, NVQ level 3 or below or government-approved training, provided they started before their 19th birthday), or
• under 18 and have left school and registered with the Connexions service or Careers Service (you can claim for up to 20 weeks but must report this as a change of circumstances to HM Revenue and Customs).

If someone under the age of 16 in your family has a baby, you could claim Child Tax Credit for both them and the baby.

The child or young person must normally live with you. Two people cannot claim Child Tax Credit for the same child. If there's a dispute over who is the main carer, HMRC will decide between the claimants.

It's possible for you to get Child Tax Credit but for someone else to get Child Benefit for the same child, although usually Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit are paid to the same person.

A young person who is 16 or over may be able to make their own benefit claim. In this case, you'll no longer be considered responsible for them. You cease to be responsible if the young person is serving a custodial sentence of more than four months. You also cease to be responsible if the young person is in care with the local authority or their accommodation is paid for out of public funds.

If a child or young person leaves home or ceases to be your responsibility, report this as a change of circumstances within one month.

To get Child Tax Credit you must be resident and present in Great Britain, have the right to reside there and must not be subject to immigration control.

For more detailed information on Child Tax Credit follow the links:

• how much tax credit you may be eligible for
• how to claim tax credits
• when and how to report changes of circumstance that may affect your tax credit claim
• how to challenge a decision about tax credits
• how your immigration status, place of residence or presence may affect your tax credit claim.

The official online source of government information on benefits is Directgov.