Quick question about tax credits and maternity leave

maggiecon

I am currently the main earner in our house. DH income is circa £10k as he is self employed my income is approx £40k.

I am going off on maternity leave in January, working in private sector so maternity pay is non existent and only entitled to SMP.

As I intend to take the full maternity leave allowance of a year, will my husband and I be able to claim tax credits for that year as we only have his income to rely on? or is it based on what we would earn if I was on full pay?

We have been saving like mad for last couple of years to afford this but I am still really worried that we will struggle.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Darksparkle

The first thing you'd have to do is check if you are in a universal credit area or if you'd still apply for tax credits.

Tax credits is based on your income for the tax year. It's initially based on the previous year's income unless the current year income increases or decreases by more than £2,500.

If you claimed in January 2019 tax credits would depend on income for 2017/18 and 2018/19. From april 2019 it would consider your income for 2018/19 and 2019/20.