Claiming tax credits/maternity pay

MrsSippi

I am expecting our second child in a couple of months. When I had my daughter I claimed SMP (statutory maternity pay) for 7.5 months then returned to work so it was quite straightforward. We were also entitled to some tax credits at the time though this has since stopped due to the changes in the rules.

Once the baby is born however I will not be returning to work (not through choice, but the cost of childcare would leave us out of pocket). I will therefore be getting SMP and will put in a new claim for tax credits as our income (i.e. husband's wages) will drop to circa £1,750 pm which will mean we can claim again. I am a bit confused though as to when to stop claiming SMP. I think you are entitled to it for up to a year and would assume you have to declare this as income when applying for tax credits but I am not sure if I would be better off either claiming it and getting less tax credits or not claiming it for very long and getting more in tax credits.

Would anyone know this? (as a general response - i.e. I don't know if it would all depend on figures etc or if 9 times out of 10 you are better of claiming maternity pay for longer or stopping it earlier and claiming more tax credits)

Any advice would be massively appreciated.

Cazzauk18

Hi, congratulations on the baby.
I'm currently on maternity and I will only get it for 9 months. You can take a year off work with 3 months being unpaid. You can claim tax credits while on maternity they just need to know and the amount of money you recieve a week, month and then a year, that's all they asked me anyway.
Hope this sort of helps

MrsSippi

blondebubbles wrote: »

When on SMP the first £100 per week for 39 weeks is disregarded for tax credit purposes

Thank you for the replies and the above is really useful to know. It's been a while since I have applied for tax credits so apologies if this is a silly question but when you complete the application do you have to state somewhere that you are receiving SMP or does it just get recorded as an income and the first £100 would be disregarded, regardless of what type of income it is? Hope that makes sense!