Why Tax Credits claimants get the cost of living payment later

For HMRC recipients, tax credit claimants, the payment reference will be “HMRC COLS”.

To be eligible for the payment, tax credit-only claimants must have received a payment or an annual award of at least £26 of tax credits for any day between August 26, 2022 to September 25, 2022.

They can also be eligible if they are later found to be entitled to tax credits for this period.

If someone gets both Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, they will receive one cost of living payment and this will be for the Child Tax Credit claim only.