Between April and June every year HMRC issues Tax Credits renewal packs. The deadline for renewal is set for July 31st. Around 5.9 million packs will be posted out over the three month period.
The renewal process was made much simpler last year with the introduction of the online service. Over 750,000 people used the online form last year, the average time taken being six minutes and with a 90% satisfaction rate.
The HMRC online service is improving each year and this year people logging in to renew claims will also be able to view their personal tax account and see details on income tax and benefits through a single service.
There is a fallback service for people with no access to the Internet or who would prefer not to use the online service - HMRC states they have identified vulnerable customers in this bracket and will be contacting them.
In previous years a quarter of all people receiving renewal packs were yet to go through the renewal process by the time July rolled around. Missing the deadline could possibly stop payments and in 2014 this was the case for 13% of claimants.
Visit the online renewal tool at https://www.gov.uk/renewtaxcredits