Tax credits if you have a baby

You can claim tax credits if you have a baby or get more money if you’re already getting tax credits - you must apply to see exactly what you can get.

Tax credit	Approximate amount
Child Tax Credit	Up to £3,325 per year
Tax credits for childcare while you work	Up to £122.50 a week (1 child) Up to £210 a week (2 or more children) You won’t get 100% of your childcare costs
Working Tax Credit	Up to £1,960 per year

Even though you’ve stopped work to have a baby you’re entitled to get Working Tax Credit for:

• the first 39 weeks of maternity (or adoption) leave
• your period of ordinary paternity leave

To qualify, you must have been working at least 16 or 30 hours a week before your leave. The actual number of hours depends on your circumstances.

Use the tax credit calculator to work out what you can get.

How to claim

You can:

• apply for tax credits - if you’ve not applied for tax credits before
• update your claim - if you’ve already applied for Child or Working Tax Credit

To update a claim, just contact the Tax Credit Office - you don’t need to fill out a claim form.

When to claim

Tell the Tax Credit Office within 1 month of the birth so your claim can be backdated to the date of birth. If you don’t, your tax credits will only be backdated by 1 month from the date of your claim.

Example

Your baby is born 1 September.

You tell the Tax Credit Office on 1 January so your tax credits get backdated to 1 December.

If you’d told them by 1 October you’d be getting tax credits from 1 September.