There are two tax credits.

The Working Tax Credit is to 'make work pay' and provides:

• extra income to the working person
• up to 80% of the cost of childcare to the main carer of a child.

The Child Tax Credit is to support families with a child or children. It is paid to the main carer.

Although the take up of Child Tax Credit is high, that for Working Tax Credit only is low, particularly amongst workers without children.

Because tax credit rules can be complicated it is difficult for people to judge whether they may be entitled to either of the credits or the amounts they may receive. It is possible, in some unusual circumstances, for those with income of up to around £70,000 or £80,000 to obtain tax credits.

One way of testing your eligibility is to use one of the calculators that exist. Two which we would recommend are those from Entitledto or from HMRC. We prefer the former as it is rather simpler to complete and it also indicates whether other benefits might be available.

Two other benefits for children are administered by HMRC; the Child Benefit and the Child Trust Fund but these are quite separate from any tax credits claim.

There are three ways of using our website to obtain tax credits information:

• go to our Overview section where on one (long) page you can get an understanding of the main features of the tax credits regime
• use the topic headings on the sidebar to the left of this page where we explain the detail under each of those headings
• search our News items where we comment on HMRC performance and provide guidance on a range of tax credits matters