Tax credits

The end of tax credits

There were two tax credits – child tax credit and working tax credit that were introduced from April 2003.

You could get one or both of them, depending on your household circumstances. There were different qualifying conditions for working tax credit and child tax credit but you only made one claim.

• Working tax credit was paid to people who work and are were a low income – it did not matter whether you are an employee or self-employed. You did not need to have children to get WTC.
• Child tax credit was paid to people who have children. It was paid in addition to child benefit and you did not have to be working to get it.

After 22 years, the tax credit system is closing and there will be no tax credit awards after 5 April 2025. This is because tax credits have been replaced by universal credit for most people under state pension age.

You can find our previous information about the tax credit system worked by clicking these links. These pages remain as they were published in March 2025:

Previous tax credit claimants

If you were in receipt of tax credit payments before 5 April 2025you should have received either a migration notice inviting you to claim universal credit or a tax credits closure notice inviting you to claim pension credit. If you were also receiving pension credit alongside tax credits, you will have received a notice saying your tax credit payments stop from 5 April 2025.

Not all existing tax credit claimants were sent a migration notice or a tax credit closure notice. You may not have been sent a notice because you were not entitled to support through universal credit or pension credit or because you were not receiving any tax credit payments before 6 April 2025.

For example, you would not have received a notice if:

• you had a live tax credit claim but your payments were nil due to your household income. This is called a nil award and HMRC did not send a notice asking you to move as you were not receiving any tax credit payments. See the heading tax credit issues from 6 April 2025 below for further information if you had a nil award and have an outstanding appeal.
• you were getting child tax credit under certain EU withdrawal agreement rules. Your tax credits ended on 5 April 2025. This is because universal credit and Pension Credit are not payable to individuals residing outside the UK.

If you had a nil award, and it turns out that your income for 2024/2025 was lower than expected, then you needed to tell HMRC before 5 April 2025. If you report it from 6 April 2025 as part of finalising your 2024/2025 tax credit claim, HMRC will pay you any additional payments due for the 2024/2025 tax year but they say that they will not invite you to claim universal credit or pension credit. If you choose to make a claim for either of those benefits, you will not be entitled to any transitional protection.

Tax credit issues from 6 April 2025

There are still some tax credits that you may need to deal with after the system closes down on 5 April 2025. For example, if you had an award in 2024/2025 and it still needs to be finalised or if you have a tax credit debt that you need to pay back. 

Tax credit disability elements for earlier periods

If you, your partner or children are awarded certain disability elements after 5 April that are backdated to cover a period you were on tax credits, you may be entitled to the tax credit disability elements for a past period. You must notify HMRC within one month of the date your disability benefit decision is made and, if you do, they will re-calculate your previous tax credit awards and pay you any money owed where it leads to a higher award. You can find more details on our disability and tax credits page. HMRC say they will usually look to offset any underpayments against any tax credit overpayments. The newly recalculated award may also be sent to DWP which could lead to a recalculation of any transitional protection in place.

Outstanding tax credit appeals, mandatory reconsiderations and disputes

If you had no tax credits award in payment by 5 April 2025 (known as a nil award), but have an appeal that has not yet been decided which is later resolved in your favour, then HMRC will send you any tax credit payments you are entitled to up to and including 5 April 2025. You will not entitled to any transitional protection if you choose to claim universal credit or pension credit. Transitional protection is only available to people who were invited to claim either of those benefits by DWP or HMRC through a migration notice or tax credits closure notice.

If you were getting tax credits payments before 5 April 2025, and have an active tax credits appeal that has not yet been decided, the appeal will continue through the normal appeals process. Once the outcome is decided, if it affects your tax credit entitlement for periods to 5 April 2025, those awards will be revised and any payments due made directly to you. Any transitional protection given to you upon moving to universal credit or pension credit may be recalculated as a result.

See our appealing a tax credit decision page for more information about appeals.

See our Tax credits overpayments page for more information about outstanding disputes.

Home Office asylum backlog cases

If you claimed asylum and the Home Office makes a decision after 5 April 2025 to grant you refugee status, you may be entitled to child tax credits backdated to the date of your asylum claim. You should tell HMRC within a month of getting your Home Office confirmation and they can deal with your claim and send you any backdated child tax credits payments you are entitled to up to and including 5 April 2025. You will not be entitled to any transitional protection if you choose to claim universal credit or pension credit. Transitional protection is only available to people who were invited to claim either of those benefits by DWP or HMRC through a migration notice or tax credits closure notice. 

Tax credits digital service

HMRC’s digital service, ‘Manage your tax credits’, ended from 6 April 2025. In addition, information about your tax credit award will no longer be available via your personal tax account or the HMRC app. HMRC’s telephone and post services for tax credits will continue and some online forms, such as the appeals form and dispute form, will continue to be available via the GOV.UK website.

Tax credit overpayment debts

If you have a tax credit overpayment debt, how you will repay it depends on your situation. Our tax credits overpayments page explains how debts will be recovered from 6 April 2025 and also explains how to dispute a tax credit overpayment.