HELP - Child Tax Credit Form

lucy_w86

alwaysonthego wrote: »

Yes you do, but please re-read my first post on this thread before you do so.

Don't underestimate.

I shouldnt as I have my year to date earnings and I have my income schedule until end of tax year as I am on maternity leave.

Murgatroyd21

lucy_w86 wrote: »

I am trying to complete the form for child tax credits and I am confused.

Basically, I worked full time until August 2010 when I went on maternity leave. I am claiming as a single parent as I do not live with my bf. I earned around £22K last tax year (2009 - 2010) and my expected income, including SMP for this year is around £14K. I completed the entitled to online check and it said I was entitled to some child tax credit.

I am trying to complete the form and have declared my actual salary for the last tax year. I have no additional income. It says to say 'yes' to working even if you are on maternity leave, so I did. It says put your hours even if you are on maternity leave (the hours I would of worked had I not been on leave), so I did.

Nowhere on the form does it say about expected income for tax year 2010 - 2011. Its obviously a lot less than last years but there is nowhere for me to state I am on SMP and declare my estimated income. Therefore, how do they work out my entitlement for tax credits?

Thanks!

Your entitlement is based on the lower of the previous or current year income, but the form only has space for previous year details. You submit your claim then call back to update your current year income details and the award will be re-calculated based on the new income you provide.

To calculate your current year income you estimate how much taxable income you are likely to get for the year including SMP, then make a disregard for maternity pay. This is dependant on how many weeks in the tax year you get SMP, up to a maximum of 39 weeks. If you have SMP of over £100pw you can discount £100 for the weeks you get SMP. If your SMP is less than £100pw you can disregard all of it each week. So if you have 26 weeks maternity leave in this tax year and get over £100pw SMP you can disregard 26x£100=£2600 from your current year income. You need to make the same disregard for each tax year you receive SMP as it won't be done automatically for next year if you take the full 39 weeks maternity leave with SMP (so if 26 weeks this year then 13 weeks next year = £1300 to disregard next year).

On another note, if you are over 25 and usually worked 30+ hours pw, you need to also remember to ask for the maximum backdating of 3 months, not just to when your baby was born, as your income would be below the threshold for a single person based on your current year estimate of £14,000 with a potential disregard of £2600. You could have claimed WTC from 06/04/2010 because of your expected current year income, then added ctc from the date the baby was born. Ask for this backdating to be done when you call to update your current year income details.