to be pissed off that DH has had a bonus cos tax credits will take loads of money off us

[FuckingTaxCredits]

have nc doubt the dm readers will be out in force for this one

dh has had an annual bonus of 2700

which should be awesome news but I nearly cried when dh told me

as this happened a few years ago as well, and i know that when I do our tax credits renewal they will end up royally screwing me up the ass and taking loads off us. even though dh will prob come out with 2k, max, of his bonus, if he is lucky, but tax credits will take the whole amount off us

so it will hit ME in MY pocket cos dh is doing well at work

bonuses should be just that, a FUCKING BONUS

so pissed off

the tax credits will reduce by (quite a lot) more than the net bonus payment

I know nothing about the rules for tax credits, but it seems unlikely to me that the system would have such a stupid design. I'd be interested if anyone can give an example (real or hypothetical) which illustrates this problem.

You shouldn't be losing more in tax credits than your DH earns as a bonus, so if you think that happened previously, something went wrong.

One perfectly legal way to avoid a reduction in your tax credits would be to get your DH to put the bonus into a personal pension. When you declare your income for tax credit purposes, you do so having deducted any pension contributions (gross). You'll have to get a move on though - the tax year ends in a couple of weeks.

op, the bonus and the tax credits are meant for the family, if you separate out your money and have his and her money then thats not the tax credits folks faults

sorry missed your q notrevelaingmy

they reduce by more then the net amount....

so, they take the whole 2700 into consideration and assume we actually got all that in our pockets. when in reality he will prob see 2000 of it judging by past years when he has had a good bonus

so they will prob take 700 off us even though we haven't had that amount iyswim

theres no incentive to do well while you have kids and on a low income :(

theres no incentive to do well while you have kids and on a low income

No, there's clearly no incentive to work extra hard to earn a bonus when the tax payer feathers your nest too generously.

Bring on UC!

no they dont, they ask for your net income for the year

Why doesn't he get all of his bonus? If he only receives £2000 then that's what the tax credit people should take into account.

So you want other tax payers to continue subsiding you and your family and you want to benefit from your DH's bonus?

Nothing to do with the DM, but would just like to point out that, unlike some of us, you are having a holiday...

(which, as you have said, that bonus is helping to pay off)

I don't get it.

The bonus is 2700 pre tax 2000 post and they take 700 off you in tax credits?

Leaving you 1300 better off?

Surely it is not unreasonable to accept that if your household income goes up then your need to rely on the government is reduced?!? If someone gets a pay rise/ lump sum/ bonus that exceeds the cap for benefits then they can live off the amount they have earned and feel that every penny they spend is money they have worked for. Too many people think that tax credits are a right and they are 'owed' it.

If you are certain that your total income will drop (so tax credits loss will be more than the money you get in), then as a family you'll be worse off - suggest to your DH he goes in to work and has a quiet word with his boss, explain that while he's really happy with the bonus, the reality of the tax credits system means you'll lose more than you'd get from the bonus, so could he decline the bonus this year?

There must be an option to not pay someone a bonus. Normally, in companies that's only for poorly performing staff members, however if it's noted in HR that he would have received a £2.7k bonus but declined it for personal reasons, there's no reason that will reflect badly on him.

But his gross income and net income are different. The tax credits are worked out on gross when you only get net in your pocket. Its nothing new.

If you have his n hers incomes then the problem is closer to home...

There's no need to refuse the bonus altogether, just ask the employer to pay it into a pension. Though I still don't believe the problem (of total net income going down) actually exists.

they only take 41p per £ you earn above £16000 up to £22000 (ish), so although they'll knock it off next years award, you'll effectively be better of than if you hadn't had the bonus.

They will not reduce your tax credits by £2700
That's not how it works

theoretician thats a great idea to pay it into pension.

For the sake of a 20 quid a week pay bump my sister lost 200 per month in tax credits, so it does happen, still unclear if the op is in the same situation though.
how much will he get from his bonus and how much tax credits will stop?

I don't think they anyone other than the OP thought that Snarferson. I was just asking a question? Possibly should have added

There are tapered reductions in tc's, so no - the OP's family income will not be lower than without the bonus

Actually someone else said it first.

I'm not wanting to be funny but when my oh gets a bonus the tax man immediately takes 45% of it. That's our money and not from the state, but we accept it as 'the rules'.

For the sake of a 20 quid a week pay bump my sister lost 200 per month in tax credits
There are pay lines, so if you cross one, you get substantially less ££

I think the point here is that the family income will be better off, but the OPs income will be reduced. She says her DH is going to pay for more to make up for it.

Yup, its shit but she was 120 a month worse off for that pay rise, sad really that pay rises in this world can make people worse off. I do think the OP needs to make things clear though as so far its a bit confusing