Claiming Child Tax Credits - first time - HELP!!

[OrlaithsMummy]

Hiya I'm new on here and am about to claim child tax credits and working tax credits but have many questions.
Firstly, the story so far.....
I am a stay at home mother and my husband is self-employed. My daughter is 13 months old.
We hadn't claimed tax credits before because my husband's accountant said it was best to wait until the end of the tax year so we knew the exact net income. However, this works against the fact that you cannot get back pay for any earlier than 6 months ago. Now I am concerned that we have missed out on 6 months worth of tax credits. All I have gotten for my daughter is Child Benefit.
I only received Statutory Maternity Pay for the first 6 months as I wasn't employed by my last employer for long enough, so perhaps I wouldn't have qualified for tax credits.
Does anyone have any advice? Has anyone ever actually been backpaid for earlier than 6 months? Is it even worth all the hassle - I've read so many stories of people having to pay back loads of money, it makes me wonder if it's worth the risk!!
Any advice is welcome!
Thanks.

Tbh, I think your dh's accountant may have advised you badly. Child Tax credit says it doesn't back pay for more than 6 months, so I don't think it'll likely you'll get an exemption. They would have done a calculation based on an estimate of your dh's predicted income for this year, or his actual income for the year before. This would then be adjusted at the end of the financial year in the light of actual figures.

That doesn't help you now, so unless someone with direct experience gives you hope, I think you might have to chalk that up to experience.

If it would have been a lot I would complain about the accountant!

It's actually only three months you get backdated. You can appeal to get it back further but these don't always get granted.
If it is money you are entitled to it is worth claiming just keep an eye on what they send you.

I phoned the tax credit helpline to ask precisely this and was told it was fine to wait til I had my P60 before putting in for the back pay!

It's different if you already have a claim and it is just the income that is changing as that is always just an estimate if your income was lower you still get the back payment at the end of the year.
It is any changes in your circustances that can only go back three months.

Thank heavens for that - you'd all got me worried!