Consecutive maternity leave & tax credits

Shonza16

I am currently on maternity leave, receiving SMP. I am due back to work mid October. I am pregnant again and baby is due in December. I will be returning to work for 6 weeks then taking maternity leave. I will be receiving SMP again. My question is regarding working tax credits. I receive £33 a week currently and I have phoned them and informed them that I will have a reduction in my income this year due to being on maternity leave again when I expected to be working. The woman adjusted my estimated income for the year and asked how many weeks I will be on maternity this tax year. I told her 46. She kind of ummed and said the maximum is 39 and I said yes I will have taken 39 in this leave, return to work for 6 weeks and then be on maternity again for the remainder of this tax year. She said ok that's fine and said I'll receive a letter to confirm the changes.
It's just got me a little worried that the woman seemed kind of unsure herself at first as to whether I could have more than 39 weeks leave in the one year. She appeared to think it was OK as it was 2 seperate maternity leaves though. Is this correct? Am I entitled to working tax credits for the full 46 weeks I'm on maternity leave? I am not taking any unpaid maternity leave, when I return to work briefly in October this is after the paid 39 weeks leave. My leave 6 weeks later is a new and seperate maternity leave. Anyone know if I'm worrying over nothing? All the benefit calculators online also only give you the option to work out entitlement based on a maximum of 39 weeks leave.

Darksparkle

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm04113

This does not specify the number of weeks.

I think the 39 weeks is mentioned to avoid confusion as that is how long one period of SMP lasts and for those who may get paid longer through contractual maternity pay.

Icequeen99

Darksparkle wrote: »

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/tax-credits-technical-manual/tctm04113

This does not specify the number of weeks.

I think the 39 weeks is mentioned to avoid confusion as that is how long one period of SMP lasts and for those who may get paid longer through contractual maternity pay.

DS is right - the 39 weeks is really only used to help people understand what counts for tax credits. People are allowed 52 weeks off work for maternity leave, but you would only count as 'in work' for tax credits for the first 39 (which aligns with the period SMP is paid for).

There is no requirement in legislation that it only be 39 weeks in a year or anything like that.

So you will be fine, as long as neither maternity period exceeds 39 weeks you will be treated as working for tax credit purposes.

IQ