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How to renew

You will be sent a renewal pack between April and June which you must respond to. You don’t have to complete any paperwork if you don’t want to, you can renew by phone.

The renewal pack includes an Annual Review notice which tells you what to do to renew your tax credits. Most people will also get an Annual Declaration form in their pack as well.

Your Annual Review notice

As well as telling you how to renew your tax credits, the Annual Review notice gives details of the tax credits you received during the year. It lists:

• what you told HMRC about your personal circumstances when you claimed
• any changes you told HMRC about your personal circumstances during the year

You need to:

• check the information carefully
• tell HMRC immediately if anything has changed, or if anything is wrong, missing or incomplete

You may also be asked to give details of your income in the last tax year on the Annual Declaration form (if you were sent one). Or you can call HMRC with this information if you prefer.

You need to tell HMRC straight away about any changes. If you don’t you might not be getting all the money you are entitled to, or you could be getting too much (an overpayment) which you may have to pay back.

• Which changes in circumstance you need to tell us about

Your Annual Declaration

As well as an Annual Review notice, it is likely that you’ll get an Annual Declaration form in your renewal pack. This is so you can tell HMRC what your income was in the past year.

HMRC need this information so they can check you got all the money you were entitled to during the last year, and check your payments going forward.

Don’t worry if you haven’t received an Annual Declaration form in your pack. If you only get the family element of Child Tax Credit, or you claimed tax credits but didn’t get them because your income is too high (a nil award), you’ll just get an Annual Review notice as part of your pack.

There are notes in the renewal pack which tell you how to work out your income. If you’re employed, you should get a P60 from your employer at the end of the year, showing what you earned. You’ll also need to tell HMRC about any taxable benefits you got from the job, and about any other money you got for example from stocks and shares or from bank interest.

If you didn’t get a P60, your March payslip will show how much you earned in the past tax year. If you don’t have either, you’ll need to make a estimated guess of what you earned. If it was more or less the same each week or month, multiply this by:

• 52 - if you’re paid weekly
• 12 - if you’re paid monthly
• 13 - if you’re paid every four weeks

If you didn’t get the same wages each time you were paid, you’ll need to add up all the money you received during the year.

If you’re self-employed, your income is the profit you made, and you should use the amount from your tax return. If you haven’t sent HMRC your tax return, you’ll need to make an estimated guess on your profit, which is the difference between all the money you made from doing work or selling goods and the cost of doing that business.

• Find out how to work out your income if you're employed Opens new window
• Find out how to work out your income if you're self-employed Opens new window

Who will receive a renewal pack?

You will receive a renewal pack even if you claimed tax credits but didn’t get them because your income is too high (a nil award), and even if you only got tax credits for part of the year.

If you have made more than one tax credits claim during the year, you will be sent a separate renewal pack for each claim. You must fill in each one separately.

Deadlines for renewing

The deadline for returning the form or calling HMRC with the information is normally 31 July, but if it’s different to this it will be shown on the front of your renewal pack. It’s important to renew you tax credits as soon as possible.

If you delay you might not be getting all the money you’re entitled to or if you’ve been paid too much, you may have to pay back any overpayment from the previous year as well as any money paid to you since 6 April.

So don’t wait for the deadline - the sooner you check your details and tell HMRC of any changes, the sooner they can make sure you get the money you’re entitled to.

If you got an Annual Declaration form as well as an Annual Review notice in your pack, you can fill in the Declaration and return it to HMRC.

If you prefer, you can renew by phone by calling the Tax Credit Helpline. You must do this by the date shown - usually 31 July. If not your payments will stop and you will have to pay back any overpayment from the previous year as well as any money paid to you since 6 April.

• Checking your tax credits award notice

If you only got an Annual Review notice in your pack, and you need to tell HMRC about a change in circumstance or that your income is higher or lower than the amount shown, you must call the Tax Credit Helpline.

If we do not hear from you by 31 July we will treat the information in your Annual Review notice as correct and automatically renew your award.

• Deadlines for renewing your tax credits claim Opens new window

What happens after you have renewed?

If you only received an Annual Review notice in your pack, but you haven’t responded because:

• nothing has changed in your personal situation
• your income is still in the limits shown in the notice
• there are no mistakes or missing details in the notice

Your tax credits will be automatically renewed.

If you’ve called HMRC about a change in circumstance, you will be sent an amended award notice, which you must check and reply within one month if anything is wrong, missing or incomplete.

If you received an Annual Declaration in your pack, HMRC will check that you received the right amount of tax credit payments in the year just ended (to 5 April).

HMRC send you an award notice with a final decision for the year confirming this. At the same time, HMRC will check your tax credits for the current year (from 6 April), and will send you another award notice showing what your payments will be going forward. Your award notices will show any overpayments or underpayments.

Contact HMRC

You can contact the Tax Credit Helpline on 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, seven days a week except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day).

More useful links

• Why your tax credits claim has to be renewed Opens new window
• Getting ready to renew your tax credits? Opens new window
• How to avoid being overpaid on your tax credits Opens new window