Maternity allowance/ child benefit/ married allowance

powerpuffgirl50

I am self employed and due to go on maternity and going to be claiming maternity allowance and child benefit. 
Does either of these count as income towards working out if eligible to transfer tax to my husband for marriage tax allowance? 

I’m going on maternity in May and aiming to go back to work December/January 
so trying to work out hours to keep me under the threshold before next April seeing as most of this tax year is going to be Maternity leave 

Savvy_Sue

https://www.gov.uk/income-tax/taxfree-and-taxable-state-benefits

Neither is taxable. However, it's also worth adding that even if you end up earning above your taxable allowance, you're no worse off as a couple if one of you has transferred 10% of your tax free allowance to your spouse / civil partner. 

A few years ago, DH transferred his 10% to me, because I was paying tax and he wasn't. We're now in a situation where it's a moot point which of us has the higher taxable income, and it's possibly no longer worth doing. But as we're no worse off leaving things as they are, and as his income may go down unexpectedly, we'll leave things as they are. 

Of course this only works in a situation where you don't see income as strictly 'his' and 'hers' - ours is all 'ours'!