Child tax credit is a system which takes in to account the income levels of families with children and the low income generated by some of the working members of a family. It takes into account the number of children as well as their ages when assessing the eligibility requirements. It should be remembered that, child tax credit is separate from other child benefits which is on offer and there is a specific eligibility criteria for a family or a person to be eligible for this system of compensation.
Residency requirements
A person needs to be a resident in UK, Ireland, Wales or Scotland and should be above the age of 16 years. But, people who are citizens of European Economic Area (EEA) who lives in UK are also eligible for this scheme along with people from these member states and Switzerland who receives some sort of public funding from UK such as pension or job seekers allowance. Apart from these, Crown workers who are posted elsewhere are also eligible for this scheme.
It should be remembered that, if someone is subjected to the immigration processes in UK, it is most likely that they do not become eligible to receive funding through this scheme.
Status requirement
The applications or claims can be made individually if you are single or permanently separated where as joint applications should be made in case of married and living together couples as well as couples who are in civil partnership or else living together as if in a civil partnership.
Income requirements
All families with children less than 1 year with an annual income of up to 66,000 pounds or else families with children of up to 58,000 pound annual income, can apply for credit based on this scheme.
Other requirements
The person who claims for child tax credit needs to be responsible for at least one of the children and it should be remembered that, the support through this scheme will be valid till the September 1st following the 16th birthday of your child. If not, following criteria should be met in order to continue support through this scheme for the young person.
– Be under 20 years of age engaged in full time education or else unwaged training
– Be 16 to 17 years of age and has left full time non advanced education or training without a job or a training placement and is registered with the Carrier services or Connexions Services of Ireland.
– Is not in full time work of 24 hours or more per week
– Do not claim other benefits, tax credit…etc in his or her own right
If these criteria are met, you would be able to claim credit through this system and for further information please see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/start/who-qualifies/new-arrivals-intro/index.htm.
Ref : WTC 1 – Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit – An introduction