Eligibility depends on your age and how many hours of paid work you do a week. Your income and circumstances will also affect how much you get.

Your age

You must be 16 or over to qualify. You must be 25 or over if you don’t have children or you don’t have a disability.

Hours you work

You must work a certain number of hours a week to qualify.

Exceptions for couples with at least one child

You can claim if you work less than 24 hours a week between you and one of the following applies:

• you work at least 16 hours a week and you’re disabled or aged 60 or above
• you work at least 16 hours a week and your partner is incapacitated (getting certain benefits because of disability or ill health), is entitled to Carer’s Allowance, or is in hospital or prison

What counts as work

Your work can be:

• for someone else, as a worker or employee
• for yourself, ie self-employment
• a mixture of the two

If you’re self-employed

Most self-employed people are eligible for Working Tax Credit.

You won’t be eligible if the Tax Credit Office believes your self-employed hours are uncommercial or unprofitable. For example, you may not qualify if you don’t:

• make a profit
• have good business records
• work regularly
• try to expand your business
• follow any regulations, eg by not having the right insurance if you’re a driver

You may be investigated if the average hourly profit from your self-employed time is less than the National Minimum Wage. The Tax Credit Office will ask you to provide:

• business records
• other details, like a business plan, if they need more information, eg because you’ve just started self-employment

Contact the Tax Credit Office if you don’t know whether your self-employed time is eligible.

Your pay

The work must last at least 4 weeks (or you must expect it to last 4 weeks) and must be paid.

This can include payment in kind (eg farm produce for a farm labourer) or where you expect to be paid for the work.

Exceptions

Paid work does not include money paid:

• for a ‘Rent a Room’ scheme
• for work done while in prison
• as a grant for training or studying
• as a sports award

Your income

There’s no set limit for income because it depends on your circumstances (and those of your partner). For example, £18,000 for a couple without children or £13,100 for a single person without children – but it can be higher if you have children, pay for approved childcare or one of you is disabled.

You get a basic amount and extra (known as ‘elements’) on top of this.

How much you get depends on things like your circumstances and income.

The basic amount is up to £1,960 a year.