Get more Tax Credit if your on maternity leave

bambi81

Hi Just thought I would let you know about this little known info on tax credits andmaternityleave. Three years ago I contacted the tax credit team to advise I had recently given birth and also that when I returned to work my hours and earnings would decrease therefore maybe entitled to more tax credit that year. The advisor asked if I had included my maternity leave deductions when calculating my total annual income - I didn't know what he was talking about! He explained that I could deduct £100 from my annual income total for every week I was on maternity leave in that tax year - In that year alone I would be on maternity leave for a total of 26 weeks meaning I could deduct £2600 off my actual yearly earnings total - I explained I had never been made aware of this before - he replied ' its one of those things...if you don't ask you don't get' my point of view is if you have no idea this is possible then your not going to ask are you?Anyway new totals given for that year and the previous year taking into consideration my maternity leave deductions - award was back dated and I got approx £1000 in back pay - needless to say I was very happy! I have now made it my mission to make sure every pregnant woman knows about this. I have told a lot of friends and they have called up and got this confirmed but recently they have only been backdating it for 3 months.I have looked on the Tax Credit site and there is no mention of this but as I say me and my friends have all had it confirmed that this is correct - although one of the advisors I spoke to didn't seem to know anything about it but put my foot down - he went to ask a colleague and came back saying I was right. This could earn you a lot of money - give them a call and get it checked out.
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[Deleted User]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/tc600-notes.pdf

Look at page 37 (Step 4)

You ARE made aware of this. You should keep the green book sent to you when you claim - there is so much information in here!

hotblu

Hello bambi81,

Just to let you know the advisor you spoke to was wrong to say "if you dont ask you dont get". As subsoniccoyote has pointed out, when you get an application pack for tax credits guidance notes are included which clearly explain what you can/cannot deduct income wise.
Also, I am pretty sure it's included as guidance when completing your renewal every year.
Customers are within their rights to call us and query this about previous years, but I will tell you now, it's not worth the cost of the call. Every tax credits customer on the system will have finalised their 06/07 claim by no later than 31st January 2008, which means they have actualised their income. TCO are very unlikely to go and refinalise a claim now.

Regards

Hotblu

Ps, Your post is useful for people who aren't aware and I am sure it will help people this year when completing 07/08 renewal.

mitchaa

This only applies to low income families and single mums on low incomes so for many millions this will have no effect.

If you as a couple are average earners, or even an average earner yourself the £100pw deduction wouldn't make a blind bit of difference as if you or your partner were earning more than the threshold you wouldn't be entitled to a penny anyway.

strawberry_laces

mitchaa wrote: »

This only applies to low income families and single mums on low incomes so for many millions this will have no effect.

If you as a couple are average earners, or even an average earner yourself the £100pw deduction wouldn't make a blind bit of difference as if you or your partner were earning more than the threshold you wouldn't be entitled to a penny anyway.

I hear that, I'm on mat leave at the mo, We get £40.00 a month extra for the new baby then after one year it goes back down to what I was getting before I had her. So it looks like I am no better off when she turns a year old, it's like she dosen't exist after a year, even though I get CTC for the other 2 . We still dont get WTC.

mitchaa

strawberry_laces wrote: »

I hear that, I'm on mat leave at the mo, We get £40.00 a month extra for the new baby then after one year it goes back down to what I was getting before I had her. So it looks like I am no better off when she turns a year old, it's like she dosen't exist after a year, even though I get CTC for the other 2 . We still dont get WTC.

Think you're confused.

There are 3 elements to CTC.

Family £545 element (£10.48pw)
Baby element (£10.48pw) - This is only up until 1st birthday
Child element £1845 per child at the moment (£2085 per child from April 08)

Low income families will receive all 3 elements. If you receive the child element all ready for 2 children, you will receive it for 3 children.

So no, you're baby still exists as you will be getting an additional £1845/£2085per year for him/her, you will just lose the £545 baby entitlement when the child turns 1.

So at moment you will be receiving 3 x £1845 (Child element) 1 x £545 family element and 1 x £545 baby element.

A middle earning couple will only receive £545 family element + £545 baby element of which the baby element also stops after childs 1st birthday.

The more kids you have, the more child elements you get. The family/baby elements never change.

Anthillmob

can someone tell me how many wweeks 9 months is as im off for 9 months so need to work this out.

and if someone could do the maths for me id appreciate it big time. my annual salary is £12000 (just under). im crap at maths.

bambi81

Hi subsoniccoyoteAs I say my claim was three years ago so not sure if info was included in booklets at time but don't keep them anyway cause things seem to change nowadays so frequently. I did check the site as well and couldnt find anything there - just bits about student loans not to be included etc. Hi mitchaaWhat do you class as a middle earning couple - how much per year? I think me and hubby are on decent wages and we certainly got alot more after having our 3rd child.

Lip_Stick

Anthillmob wrote: »

can someone tell me how many wweeks 9 months is as im off for 9 months so need to work this out.

and if someone could do the maths for me id appreciate it big time. my annual salary is £12000 (just under). im crap at maths.

You should get paid maternity pay for 39 weeks so that's a total of £3900 that you need to deduct off your estimated earnings. Don't forget that for 6 weeks you'll be on 90% of your wages, then you'll also have to include any weeks that you'll be getting full pay, e.g. if you take a couple of weeks holiday before you start your maternity leave.

(I thanked you for your post instead of pressing the quote button, am always doing that lol)

[Deleted User]

bambi81 wrote: »

Hi subsoniccoyoteAs I say my claim was three years ago so not sure if info was included in booklets at time but don't keep them anyway cause things seem to change nowadays so frequently. I did check the site as well and couldnt find anything there - just bits about student loans not to be included etc. Hi mitchaaWhat do you class as a middle earning couple - how much per year? I think me and hubby are on decent wages and we certainly got alot more after having our 3rd child.

This is one of the things that has always been in the book.

mitchaa

bambi81 wrote: »

Hi mitchaaWhat do you class as a middle earning couple - how much per year? I think me and hubby are on decent wages and we certainly got alot more after having our 3rd child.

Middle earning couple = 2 x average wage, so circa £40-£50k pa

If you receive any more than £10.48 per week you will be receiving the child element of CTC and are classed as low earners, hence why you'll receive more money for each and every child you have. A mid earning couple will only ever receive the family £545 element, they'll get no more regardless of how many children they have.

For example...

Mid earning couple with 3 children (£45000) = £545
Low earning couple with 3 children (£15000) = £545 + £2085 + £2085 + £2085 = £6800

So mid earning couple will get £10.48pw CTC and a low earning couple will get £130.77pw

Quite a difference eh;)