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What happens if you don't report a change?

It is your responsibility to tell the Tax Credit Office about any change of circumstance that affects your tax credits. For example, if you separate from your partner.

The Tax Credit Office uses the information about your change to re-work your payments and send you an amended award notice.

If you don’t report a change that affects your tax credit payments, you may:

• not be getting all the money you're entitled to
• be paid too much money (an overpayment)
• have to pay a penalty of up to £300

If you don't tell the Tax Credit Office about a change, they won't know about it until they ask you to confirm your actual circumstances. This could be for example when they send you a renewal pack after the end of the tax year. At this point they check whether you received all the money you were entitled to.

It may turn out that you didn't get all the money you should. Or if you got too much money, your current tax credits payments - if you still qualify - are usually reduced to repay the money.

• Changes you need to report and when for tax credits

What happens if you're late reporting a change?

If you realise that you haven’t reported a change on time you should still tell the Tax Credit Office straightaway. Don’t wait until you have to renew your tax credits claim.

If your change means your payments go down, for example your child leaves full-time education that qualified for tax credits, you may well be overpaid. Your drop in your payments will be backdated to the date of the change. You may have to pay a penalty as well.

If your change means your tax credit payments will go up, such as having a baby, tell the Tax Credit Office straight away. This is because your increase in tax credit payments can only be backdated by up to one month. For example if you had a baby on 12 June but didn't report this until 12 October, you'll only get the increase from 12 September. You would miss out on three months' extra payment.

• Changes you need to report and when for tax credits

How to report a change

You can report a change by calling the Tax Credit Helpline or writing to the Tax Credit Office.

You can't email or report changes online for tax credits.

• Contact details for the Tax Credit Helpline and Office

More useful links

• Tax credits - rights and responsibilities

• You've been overpaid tax credits - how did this happen?

• Checking your tax credits award notice

• Tax credit penalties

Useful contacts

• Tax Credit Helpline - contact details