• Practically all payments of tax credits are now made directly by HMRC to the claimant. Payments of working tax credit (WTC), apart from the childcare element, are paid to the person or persons in work, while the childcare element of WTC, together with the child tax credit (CTC), are paid to the main carer of the child or children.

WTC

• WTC is paid directly by HMRC to the person, or persons, in work.



• In the case of a joint claim where only one member of the couple is in remunerative work, HMRC pays WTC to that member. If however both members work and qualify for WTC, they may choose which of them is to receive WTC, or if they cannot agree then HMRC will decide which one to pay. If their circumstances change, the couple can jointly ask HMRC to pay the other member instead.

CTC and WTC childcare element

• As stated above, both CTC and the childcare element of WTC are paid directly to the main carer of the child or young person for whom the claimant(s) are responsible. Responsibility for a child or young person is defined as it is for CTC purposes, explained here.



• In the case of a joint claim where the partners reside at different addresses, or one is temporarily absent from the address where they normally live together, HMRC may decide which of the two is to receive payment as the main carer. Otherwise both partners can decide the matter between themselves and jointly notify HMRC.

Payment intervals

• Where credit is paid into a bank or building society account, the claimant(s) can choose whether it is to be paid at weekly or at four-weekly intervals. There is a box to tick on the claim form TC600 for this purpose. If the box is not ticked, credit is paid four-weekly by default.



• Where payment is made by giro, HMRC will decide when and how often to pay.

Payment into a bank account

• Normally credit is paid into a bank or building society account nominated by the claimant on form TC600. Exceptionally (eg if there is no bank account) payment will be made by giro.

Death of partner receiving credit

• In the case of a joint claim where one member of the couple dies, the survivor is entitled to be paid any outstanding credit due to that person. If both die in circumstances where it is uncertain which of them died first, then the younger will be treated as having survived the elder and payment will be made to the personal representatives of the younger.

Appointees

• Where a person makes a claim as another's appointee, HMRC will pay credit to the appointee unless at any time they consider it inappropriate to do so, in which case they will pay the person on whose behalf the claim was made.

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