End your tax credits

 Universal Credit will replace tax credits, Housing Benefit and some other benefits. You cannot claim Universal Credit and these other benefits at the same time.

Your tax credits award will end if: 

  • you or your partner make a claim for Universal Credit (even if the claim is not approved) 

  • you move in with a partner who has made a claim for Universal Credit 

After your tax credits stop, you can only make a new claim for tax credits if you get the severe disability premium (external link) or got it in the past month and are still eligible for it.

Once you have applied for Universal Credit, you will get a letter from HMRC (called your ‘award review’) to end your tax credit award. This is different to your normal tax credits renewal letter.

You will need to check and confirm your personal details and income (external link). How you work out your income depends on if you are:

Tax credit overpayments

Your award review letter may tell you that you need to pay back any tax credits overpayments (external link) when you end your tax credits.

You can also get a letter at a later date telling you that you need to repay an overpayment if:

  • you had to make an ‘award declaration’, for example if you are self-employed 

  • you had to report any changes from your award review 

You will be told when repayments start to come out of your Universal Credit (external link)