Income forecast during/after maternity

psychopathbabble

Cyantist...if you are a higher tax rate payer, you have to pay back child benefit on a sliding scale. So, depending on what you earn, you may have to pay some, all or none back.

I'm not sure of the exact figures but it's somewhere around £50,000 for one of you (so yes, a couple earning £49,000 each don't have to pay it back, yet if I was unemployed and DH earned £51,000 we would have to pay some back!!!!).

There is more information here, along with a calculator so you can work out what you would have to pay back at the end of the year:

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge/overview

psychopathbabble

Having said I won't claim it... looking into more detail, it's best to still claim it for state pension purposes and the child getting an NI number. You would just have to make sure you keep it to one side to pay back at the end of the tax year.

Please do your own research so I'm not giving wrong advice as I don't full understand it yet

cyantist

Thanks very much psychopathbabble. I knew about the limit but assumed you just couldn't claim it. The claim it but don't spend it approach seems very silly.

Luckily (ha!) neither of us earn over 50k. But it is so unfair. I know a single dad trying to cover everything on ~60k and he would get nothing in child benefit. But hubby and I have an income of 85k between us and we will get the full amount.

Considering we have two lots of tax free allowance, plus the additional costs associated with being a single parent (like additional childcare or lost earnings as there's only one of you to cover school holidays or sick days) and single parents seem to be really screwed over by this. Though that's going off at a bit of a tangent, sorry.

psychopathbabble

Same goes for us though, and friends of ours... she doesn't work but he does and he earns just a little too much for them to get any help but as they don't have family nearby who can childmind she can't get a full time job. Yet a couple that both under under 50k can get more help than us! It's a difficult one!

Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread OP.

turtlemoose

OP - don't forget you can sign up for childcare vouchers as soon as your child is born. This would be useful as you can save them up until your partner goes back to work...perhaps that tax saving over the 9 months would be enough to stretch to your partner being able to have another month or two off work. Check with your employer which voucher provider it is, as each one has different rules around the expiry date of the vouchers. But most have quite a decent amount of time on them. EG Sodexo, who my husband's employer use, have an 18 month validity, but some are longer.

jtr2803

Psycho, just be aware the £50k is based on adjusted income, so if your husband pays pension contributions from his net pay he will get some allowance for that. Don't just assume you aren't eligible or will have to pay it all back. You can actually do the calculation here:

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-calculator

I didn't think I'd be eligible but by the time I drop a day and adjust for pension I'm probably just inside or will have minimum charge.

Op, if you have salary figures for each month there are calculators for working out ni and tax on the gov website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/how-to-manually-check-your-payroll-calculations

You can roll each month through to see any possible rebates, but it only works for current tax year.

I've done all mind to March as I'm returning to work in April.

psychopathbabble

Thanks JTR, will have another look. Need to get his exact figures in front of me, as childcare vouchers help you pay less back too

jtr2803

Exactly, I forgot the calculator also looks at any gift aid donations.... Every little helps!