How your income affects your claim for Working Tax Credit
To get Working Tax Credit your income must be below a certain level. The exact level depends on your circumstances - it can be around £26,000 for a family with one child, but it could be higher if you pay for childcare, or you or your partner is disabled.
When HMRC look at your claim, they’ll use your income for the previous tax year to work out what you should get.
They’ll ignore:
all maintenance and child support
the first £100 of Statutory Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay each week
all Maternity Allowance
You should let HMRC know if you’re likely to earn a lot more or less in the current tax year. HMRC will check that you’re still getting the right amount of tax credits and change it if necessary.
You can tell HMRC about a change in your income later on, but that might mean either:
you don’t get paid as much as you should for a while
you get an overpayment and you have to pay back what you owe later on