Is child benifit and tax credit the same?

Child Benefit/Child Tax Credit?

• I have 3 children, 2 of which have been living with their father for the last year. He has been claiming Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit for the two of them for that last year and I have been claiming Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit for the one that has been living with me. My other two children have now come back to live with me. Their father has notified the Child Benefit Office of the change in circumstances and has verbally closed his claim over the phone. When can I claim Child Tax Credit for all three of them. Can I do this straight away or do I have to wait for a letter from the Child Benefit Office to say that I am in recipt of the Child Benefit for all three children before I can claim Child Tax Credit? Thanks

• Answer:

  You can put in the claim for Child Tax Credit straight away, it's best to do this as they don't like to backdate! As long as no one else is in reciept of Child Benefit the claim should go through fine. They already have your child benefit number for the child you have and can check the details through the system. They may not actually make payments until the other children are added to your Child Benefit number so my best advice is to chase Child Benefit up and notify Tax Credits when it's completed if the payments haven't started automatically.