Tax - Working for Families Tax Credits entitlements 2001–2023

BSTC data includes only families administered by Inland Revenue or who received a Working for Families square-up from Inland Revenue.
In situations where Best Start was administered by MSD, and the family did not receive a square-up from Inland Revenue, their combined receipt of Family Tax Credit and Best Start has been reported as Family Tax Credit here.
This is because Inland Revenue cannot isolate the Best Start component.

The Working for Families Tax Credits (WfFTC) consists of the following credit types:
- FTC - family tax credit
- IWTC - in-work tax credit replaced child tax credit from April 2006. Customers who received child tax credit before 1 April 2006 and don't qualify for in-work tax credit may continue to receive child tax credit
- MFTC - minimum family tax credit
- PTC - parental tax credit
- BSTC - best start tax credit.

Family tax credit (FTC)
Is a payment for each dependent child. The amount of family tax credit depends on:
-annual family income
-the number of dependent children in their care, and
-the age of these children.
Families can't receive family tax credits for child(ren) if they receive a foster care allowance, orphan's benefit or unsupported child's benefit for them.

Minimum family tax credit (MFTC)
MFTC tops up after-tax family income to a guaranteed minimum amount. This is paid to families who satisfy the "full-time work" test, and who are not self-employed. To receive this payment, at least one parent must be working for a salary or wage. A two-parent family must work at least 30 hours a week between them, and a single parent must work at least 20 hours a week. The Minimum family tax credit tops up a family's annual income (net income after tax deduction) to $23,816 a year ($458 per week) for the tax year ending 31 March 2018.

In-work Tax Credit (IWTC)
This is a payment for families who are in paid work. To receive the credit, a two-parent family must normally work 30 hours or more a week between them, and a single parent must normally work 20 hours or more a week. The recipient families must satisfy an "in full-time work" test based on their number of hours per week in paid employment.
An amount of $72.50 per week paid to families of up to three children, and $15 per child per week for additional children. It's not available to families receiving an income-tested benefit or student allowance. The amount of in-work tax credit depends on:
-the annual family income before tax
-the number of dependent children in their care.

Parental tax credit (PTC)
Parental tax credit applied from 1 October 1999 to 30 June 2018. The entitlement was intended to help parents with the cost of a new-born if the family did not receive paid parental leave or a Work and Income benefit. When the credit commenced, the entitlement was up to $150 a week for the first 8 weeks. This was increased from April 2015 to $220 per week for the first 10 weeks.
Parental tax credit was replaced by Best Start from 1 July 2018.

Best Start tax credit (BSTC)
Best Start tax credit, applied from 1 July 2018, is a payment to help families with the costs in a child's first three years.

Figures for the latest year are provisional and subject to change.

This dataset only includes claims with non-zero entitlement.

Claims filed more than two years after the end of the income year are not included.

Parental tax credit was replaced by Best Start tax credit from 1 July 2018.
There are a very small number of people who receive a CTC (child tax credit). Because their numbers are now so few, they are no longer reported on separately.

At URL provided, select 'Working for Families statistics' Excel file.

Working for Families Tax Credits (WfFTC) are made up of four entitlement types. The credit entitlements are abated against the joint family income and the residual entitlements are transferred to the recipient family after abatement. WfFTC was collectively known as "family assistance".

The data is based on March year entitlements assessed on tax returns and supplemented with the payments data from Work and Income recorded on their PAYE returns.