childcare?

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

hiya, sorry if this is on the wrong board, wasnt sure which one to put it on!

I'm going back to work (luckily ive managed to find a job) and we were looking into getting help with child care. So called tax office up, they said they can not tell us exactly how much help we'll get and they can give me a rough estimate.

They want to know what i earned last year (was on SMA and temp work) and the local tax office is going to send me this

They want OH's earnings for last tax year, which we have from his P60

They want to know what im going to earn this tax year - on benefits (assisted JSA or something) get child tax (£10 a week) and obviously child benefit. I know my wage for my new job so this isnt going to be a problem

HOWEVER

they want to know what OH is going to earnt his year. Now this IS a problem. Basically my OH gets a standard wage of 15k a year. But hes a site engineer for a software firm and he makes his money on site visits and overtime etc. Now this is all fine and well in the summer when hes earning a lot but in winter when no one wants a site visit, his wages drop to basic. His overtime is sparadic so how am i supposed to estimate his wages? Some months he's bringing home just under £1000, other months its £2000. ive told the Tax office the situation and they just keep telling me they need an estimate?? what do i do?

cw18

best you can do is estimate it on past years.....

eg. if he normally makes an exra 30% over a year, then use that. If that can vary from 30% one year to 40% another, then perhaps use 35% ?

SomeBozo

Some months he's bringing home just under £1000, other months its £2000. ive told the Tax office the situation and they just keep telling me they need an estimate?? what do i do

Was he in the same job last year?

If he was, why don't you take his earnings from last year and divide by 12? That will give you a average, and if you are ever challenged you can show and prove how you came to the figure.

Any over or under adjustments will be done at the end of this year, so it evens out.

Bozo

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

he was in the same job last year and the have the info for last years but said that i need to tell them what he should get this year . . obviously its impossible for me to predict how much work he will get (be nice tho wouldnt it!)

I'll ask if they can just use last years, nothing else i can do really. Seems a bit crap to me though that there isnt an easier way around this and that they were unwilling to suggest any thing.

thanks!

JOHNSTONE1

If i were you i'd over estimate what he's going to earn, it wont effect what you get now for your chidcare as thats based on last years earnings and all that will happen is when you get the correct figure on his P60 in April and tell them the will adjust your award accordingly and owe you money back. Using last years earnings or making a rough guess is a bit of a gamble as you'll probably end up owing them money money back.