I have no idea if we get child tax credit

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I am a SAHM, DH is freelance. Niether of us know about child tax credits. His salary depends on how much he is working. A mum at school was saying she doesn't know what they'll do without tax credits and I was embarrassed to say I don't know what they are or if we get them. An accountant sorts out the tax. DH has no idea if we get them either. We don;t need any more money but no idea how much less we might get if anything.

You need to apply before you get them - you have to put in a claim

If you claimed and were entitled, you would then get an award letter which would come to your home address

You get payments into your bank account

I guess it's possible that the accountant might have done the claim for you but seems unlikely!

If you know what your DH's earnings were for the last financial year, you could use www.turn2us.org.uk to give you a guide.

What doggiesays says - you'd never forget filling in the bloody form, I assure you. Also, it's very obvious on your bank statement what the payment is.

OTOH, it's well worth applying for (or at least it was, not sure how budget will change things for us) - you might be surprised how much you'd get. We were!

I think, though i could be wrong, that if your combined income i.e all money coming into house from one or both working is more than £58000 a year then you aren't entitled to any of it at all. I think the budget change was to reduce that threshold to £40000 per year. I might be out of date tho, i havent checked since was pg with ds1 5y ago.

Try www.entitledto.co.uk to see if you'd qualify/what you'd get.

Thanks for that! I feel a bit thick not knowing but will educate myself immediately. Even if it's too late. Our income varies from year to year - often by quite a lot - so will see what we're entitled to if anything.

My other half is freelance too - they take into account his profit from the last tax year, so April 09-April 10.

This online calculator Do I Qualify? should give you an idea if you would be entitled to tax credits.

Broadly speaking, if you don't use paid childcare and your gross family income is between £26k and about £58k then you'd get a flat £545/year. If it's over £58k now you don't qualify at all. Next year the ceiling for qualification drops to £40k and the year after £26k.