Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit

emmab14

Hello, I have searched the internet and the forums but I can't seem to find the answer to this.

Does anyone know if you have to be in receipt of Child Benefit for the child in question, in order to claim CTC for them?

Thanks
Emma

mandij30

yes you do

alison999

and the details have to be exactly the same for the child too

brians_daughter

No, you dont. It was posted recently. A work mate of mine has been forced to work away for a few months, she gets the cb but doesnt claim tc. her ex is looking after the child full time for the months(well, mon to fri)she is working away - he has cleared it with her help and she gets the cb and he gets the tc. The tc did query it initially but it was sorted very quickly

alison999

yes but you can't get tax credit without cb. so its the other wy around from your 'mate'

brians_daughter

alison999 wrote: »

yes but you can't get tax credit without cb. so its the other wy around from your 'mate'

i can assure you she is starting to work away and she gets the cb. but her ex hubby is starting to recieve the tax credits for their child. He will have the child mon-fri and her at weekends. This is all agreed as it is only for a few months. we where told relocate with a chance of coming back or take redundancy - i am taking the redundancy but Jane has decided to try the relocation for a fixed period before uprooting her chid

brians_daughter

Child Tax Credit

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 they're 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 & 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, HM Revenue & Customs 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.

evian123

Hello Just reading this thread which has got me a bit worried. This issue is I have only just started to get CTC for the frist time all went ok'ish. On the TC form I only put the kids that were getting CB but since the claim I have found my eldest can get CB as she doing her A leavels so I phone up the CB office and ask if this is OK, I am told yes!! and it will be backdated. I then phone up the TCO and tell them I need to add an extra child to the claim as I am now gettint CB for her. TCO take the infromation and say they will backdate it by 93 days. The point is the CB update may not be in place when the TCO check that the extra chlid is getting CB....I can only think this will delay the whole process or will I just get a NO back from the TCO...or even worse, any thoughts....

DreamerV

evian123 wrote: »

Hello Just reading this thread which has got me a bit worried. This issue is I have only just started to get CTC for the frist time all went ok'ish. On the TC form I only put the kids that were getting CB but since the claim I have found my eldest can get CB as she doing her A leavels so I phone up the CB office and ask if this is OK, I am told yes!! and it will be backdated. I then phone up the TCO and tell them I need to add an extra child to the claim as I am now gettint CB for her. TCO take the infromation and say they will backdate it by 93 days. The point is the CB update may not be in place when the TCO check that the extra chlid is getting CB....I can only think this will delay the whole process or will I just get a NO back from the TCO...or even worse, any thoughts....

As long as you were responsible for this child at the date 93 days ago it's fine. The main problem would be more if another person disputed this...e.g. if this child is on another claim, as tax credits will not pay 2 different people for the same child.

evian123

Thanks DreamerV

I am responsible for the child and have been since brith, also there are no other claims by any one else.

Just one thing that you may know which is on the call to the TCO it seemed as if he had updated the info and the extra amount had been procssed then and there or is this just wishful thinking and the process could take 4 weeks again....

Thanks

DreamerV

evian123 wrote: »

Thanks DreamerV

I am responsible for the child and have been since brith, also there are no other claims by any one else.

Just one thing that you may know which is on the call to the TCO it seemed as if he had updated the info and the extra amount had been procssed then and there or is this just wishful thinking and the process could take 4 weeks again....

Thanks

If you've had the claim more than 93 days before this...and it's just this one child you're getting backdated for, then it should be fairly quick (although there's no official timescale). It's different if a referral was sent to backdate the whole claim, but it doesn't sound that way. It sounds quite positive, that you most likely will end up with the extra backdated money fairly quickly.