Tax Credits: Codes of practice
This section gives details of HMRC Codes of Practice (COP) that are relevant for tax credits.
These are important documents issued by HMRC to say what their practice is in certain situations. They are not legally binding and can be overturned by the courts, although this has happened very rarely in practice. Below we have given details of all current codes as well as links to archived versions that are useful for dealing with older disputes and appeals.
Current Codes of Practice
Archived Codes of Practice
At present there is only one COP in use for tax credits, however it is extremely important as it sets out how HMRC deal with overpayments of tax credits.
- COP 26 (April 2022) - Tax credits: What happens if we've paid you too much tax credits?
You can find more information about challenging overpayments in our ‘how to deal with HMRC’ section.
The codes that appear below are no longer in use and are presented here for information purposes only. Earlier versions of COP 26 are useful when dealing with old disputes and appeals.
Previous versions of Cop 26 -
- COP 26 (2021)
- COP 26 (2020)
- COP 26 (2019)
- COP 26 (2018)
- COP 26 (2017)
- COP 26 (2016)
- COP 26 (2015)
- COP 26 (2014)
- COP 26 (2013)
- COP 26 (2012)
- COP 26 (2011)
- COP 26 (2010)
- COP 26 (Mar 2008)
- COP 26 (Feb 2008)
- COP 26 (Jan 2008)
- COP 26 (2007)
- COP 26 (2006)
- COP 26 (2004)
- COP 26 (2003)
Last reviewed/updated 4 May 2022