Maternity Pay Questions

[sweetdreamstenasee]

Received maternity allowance form, have no idea where to start filling it out.

I was a sole trade since 2017, got pregnant in September 22, had to become director of my limited company in October 22 as I was hitting the threshold, am now planning to take maternity on June 1st as baby os due a month later, plan on being off for 3-4 months (would like longer, can't afford it. )

I have no employees, it's just me, would have liked to have stayed as a sole trader but couldn't as was hitting the threshold.

Anyone know about how I would even go about filling out this form, I can't see any areas for company directors, don't even know if I have a claim now..

any advice welcome

I have to say that I don't understand why you couldn't stay as a sole trader. There is no threshold beyond which you have to set up a limited company.

The maternity allowance form is fairly straightforward. Which bit are you having trouble with?

You have to register for VAT over 85k, given this and after discussing the pros and cons for my business with tan accountant I went forward as a limited company.

as for the form, being a director I’m not sure if that counts as being employed or self employed, as it’s through a company, and I cannot find a consistent answer online if I as the sole employee would be entitled to any form of maternity allowance.

I think you count as employed, but won't qualify for SMP owing to the dates of pregnancy maybe?

Check out the link below, but any decent accountant should be able to advise you on this.

https://www.companywizard.co.uk/blog/maternity-pay-for-directors#:~:text=Type%201%20%2D%20Statutory%20Maternity%20Pay,your%20pay%20in%20your%20absence.

thank you, can’t seem to get a straight answer online in regard to whether I’m employed or self employed as the only employee. I’m on hold with the gov phone number in the form provided and will speak to my accountant this week to helpfully get an answer.

Timings wise I think it’s ok, 30 weeks between when my company was incorporated to when I would like to take maternity leave.

You're not self-employed anymore; you are employed by your company, and will be treated as employed. I believe you'll be paid by your company and you'll claim it back from the Government, but your account should be able to clarify/handle this bit for you.

Yes you're probably right I'm going to handover to my accountant to take a look at this, thank you.

I'm pretty sure you are employed anyway and if you take a salary (which I presume is likely as it's going to be tax efficient), then you're an employee (in normal circumstances statutory pay eligibility is one of the perks of having a ltd company over being a sole trader actually).
I am not a financial advisor however!