Please Help!! What will we get??????

blue~skies_3

Hi Everyone!!

My friend pointed me in the direction of this website as I am pregnant with my first and worrying about finances!

I hope someone can help me. I find tax credits/ benefits...the entire system so confusing (and I like to think of myself as an intelligent person).

Basically I am a full time student and my husband works full time earning 20,000 a year. He is also a student (studying for his masters part time). We have a mortgage, council tax and the like to pay every month although I understand outgoings are not taken into account.

I would just really like a rough idea of how much we will be entitled to once our baby arrives in June.

Thank you so much in advance for any help!

savemoney

Try this web site http://www.entitledto.co.uk/
input your details, income etc

bestpud

Will you still be a student when the baby arrives, or finished/taking time out?

blue~skies_3

Thanks I'll take a look at the website.

I'll probably be taking the following academic yr out once baby arrives xx

blue~skies_3

Also...

My husband's parents are giving us 20,000 for a new car this year. The payment will go in to our bank account first and then out on a car pretty much straight away...will this count as extra income or will it be seen as a gift?

Sorry for silly questions!

DX2

blue~skies wrote: »

Also...

My husband's parents are giving us 20,000 for a new car this year. The payment will go in to our bank account first and then out on a car pretty much straight away...will this count as extra income or will it be seen as a gift?

Sorry for silly questions!

Do you really need a £20,000 car?

blue~skies_3

Sorry I just wanted some advice as to what tax credits we'd be entitled to so don't really want to get into justifying how much we're spending on a car.

My inlaws are giving us 20,000 for a car - they are not giving us 20,000 for us to decide what to do with otherwise we may have opted for a cheaper one. It is something my father-in-law likes to do....so anyway I was more interested in whether or not it would affect our claim.

Thanks for the input anyway

briona

blue~skies wrote: »

Sorry I just wanted some advice as to what tax credits we'd be entitled to so don't really want to get into justifying how much we're spending on a car.

You might not WANT to justify spending silly money on a car, but you may find yourself HAVING to!

Click "Do I Qualify"?" from the left hand menu and fill in your details to find out what you might be entitled to: http://taxcredits.hmrc.gov.uk/Qualify/WhatAreTaxCredits.aspx

Briona

briona

blue~skies wrote: »

I would just really like a rough idea of how much we will be entitled to once our baby arrives in June.

In terms of other monies available, below is an excerpt from a post I wrote to another user. Not everything will be relevant to you but it will give you some idea of what's out there:

The first thing that comes to mind is the Health in Pregnancy Grant – a one off payment of £190 which can be claimed from the 25th week of pregnancy. Further details on the link. http://campaigns2.direct.gov.uk/money4mum2be/en/

Obviously once the baby is born you will get Child Benefit (currently £20pw for the first child and £13.20pw for each subsequent child). http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/index.htm

Then there's the Healthy Start tokens – vouchers worth £3.10 each that can be spent on milk, fresh fruit and vegetables or infant formula. I'm not sure that you are eligible to claim these until the baby us born as I'm assuming you're not yet receiving any form of Tax Credits? http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/HavingABaby/AfterTheBirth/DG_4002854

There is also the Sure Start Maternity Grant – a one-off payment of £500 which can ONLY be claimed in the following period: 11 weeks before the baby is born until the time the baby is 3 months old. I have a feeling that you would need to be claiming some form of Tax Credits to be eligible for this as you don't fit the rest of the criteria... http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/moneytaxandbenefits/benefitstaxcreditsandothersupport/expectingorbringingupchildren/dg_10018854

Finally there's Tax Credits. Unfortunately I know very little about these so besides providing you with the link below, I'll let someone else explain further! http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/start/who-qualifies/index.htm

Briona

blue~skies_3

Ok thank you. Yes that's what I wanted to know - whether this would be classed as extra income or a gift by HM r&c *not* to have to explain whether or not I need to spend that on a car.

Anyway...I have filled out the online form and have some info, however, there is simply an option for 'any other income' but I guess I'll have to speak to them about how they would regard this. Otherwise inlaws will just have to buy the car outright to make it easier which isn't really what they want to do as they'd rather leave it all to us.

Hope that makes sense - thanks for all the advice/ links everyone xxx

elfen

Could you ask the inlaws since you're going to have a baby very soon if you use some of the money for a car and some for savings for you and baby? If I was in the situation, I'd ask and hope my inlaws were so pleased with having a new addition that they may not mind.