In this section:
- Why your tax credits claim has to be renewed
- Help with the tax credits renewal pack
- Getting ready to renew your tax credits?
- Working out income from employment for your tax credits claim
- Working out income from self-employment for your tax credits claim
- Working out other income for your tax credits claim
- Deadlines for renewing your tax credits claim
Getting ready to renew your tax credits?
When you get your tax credits renewal pack, you'll need to check the forms we send you very carefully to make sure we have the right details about your personal circumstances. To do this, you'll find it helpful to have the right paperwork to hand.
What you'll need when looking at your renewal pack
The renewals process is a review carried out after the end of each tax year to make sure you have been paid the right amount of tax credits for the previous year and that we are paying you the right amount for the current year.
If you get tax credits, we will send you a renewal pack each year between April and June. You'll receive one even if you claimed tax credits but didn't get them because your income is too high (a nil award), and even if you only got tax credits for part of the year.
You will need to check the information, tell us if anything has changed, and you may also be asked to give details of your income in the last year.
Changes in your personal circumstances
You might find it useful to have the following to hand:
- copies of any award notices that we've sent you during the year
- a diary or calendar showing important changes, like when you started a new job, or when your child left full-time education
- bills or receipts showing how much you paid for childcare during the year
Working out your actual income
You may need the following paperwork:
- your P60, P45 forms, or your April payslip, which will show your total wages for the year
- if you're self-employed, your business accounts or your tax return
- notes of any pension and Gift Aid payments, which are normally deducted from your income
- letters or statements from the Department for Work and Pensions, or Social Security Office, stating what state pensions or state benefits you got
- letters from private pension companies, showing what pension income you got
- bank and building society statements, dividend certificates and income from trusts certificates
Help with the tax credits renewal pack
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).
More useful links
Checking your tax credits award notice
