What amount would you enter for this tax credit form?

[mowmylawn]

I'm filing my family's first claim for child tax credit, have checked online and it appears we are due a small amount. My question is this - right now only my daughter is going to the childminder, but in about 10 weeks my son will be going as well. Would you claim on the form the amount I am currently only paying for my daughter, or should I enter the amount I will be paying when they are both going, assuming it may take that long for everything to process and then make the changes, etc?

I did the calculations based on the two of them going but now am wondering if I do the claim for just my daughter then we may not get anything. Or should I just wait and make the claim when he starts at the childminder (thinking as I'm typing, that may be the way to go).

Can you tell I've never done this before? ;) I'm just wondering if by the time they get around to processing our claim he may only be a few weeks out from starting, if that makes sense.

I would do it just for your daughter at the moment because when they check up with the childminder 9 which they may well do)it will look like you are trying to claim for 2 children which she will not be able to verify. It will be fairly straightforward to ring them at a later date and adjust the amount you are paying out.

You child care costs make no difference to the percentage of tax credits you will receive. Eg if you pay £100 for your dd you will receive up to £70 a week. If you then pay another £100 for your ds you will receive up to £140 a week.
You cannot claim for your ds until 7 days before his childcare starts.