Tax Credits: What does the law mean?
This section of the website contains links to various government websites that provide information about tax credits and to HMRC technical manuals that contain guidance on how HMRC operate the tax credits system.
Government websites: In this section you will find links to Government websites that provide information about tax credits. The main content about tax credits which used to be held on a separate HMRC website was re-styled and transferred to GOV.UK during the summer of 2014, all manuals and other materials have now transferred to GOV.UK and the HMRC website address redirects to GOV.UK. Previous content from the archived HMRC website remains available on the National Archive website, although this is no longer updated and maintained so will gradually become out of date.
Tax credits manuals: There is a wealth of information about tax credits contained in three manuals that set out HMRC guidance in more detail as well as outline various processes that staff follow. These manuals can be very useful for advisers when challenging overpayments.
Codes of practice: The most common way of challenging an overpayment is through the dispute process. HMRC use Code of practice 26 (COP 26) to explain the dispute process and recovery of overpayments more generally.
Tax credits leaflets: In this section you will find the current series of tax credits leaflets as well as an archive section which contains historical versions of the leaflets.
External commentary: Many organisations publish information about tax credits. This section provides links to some of that information.
Last reviewed/updated 1 July 2022