Tax Credits Nightmare!

[WoburnNic]

Hi all
I am due my first baby in August 2011 and have been told by a friend that I should be able to claim "something" in credits. Problem is, the government calculator doesn't allow me to put in all my details as the baby isn't born yet!
What I would like to know is if we are entitled and when we would be entitled!
My partner earns 17k self employed and I earn 25k employed. This will obviously go down drastically when the baby is born and for the upcoming future. I would guess I would earn more likely 7k a year from next year.
Does anyone know if our joint wages of 24k would allow us to claim anything and if so, when can I make the claim?
Thanks in advance with any help or advice, it's all very very new to me as I've never even managed to claim a tax rebate in 20 years!

There are some changes being made from April so the online systems wouldn't give an accurate figure anyway.

Our combined income is £29k and we get the minimum amount of about £10 per week, I'm not sure if we will still get it once the changes kick in though.

Hi Peanutsmuggler
Thank you so much for this. Even the info you have given me makes a difference. I've read you can earn 40k in joint incomes, so lord knows that that would give you a week (enough for a pint of milk).
It's not a huge amount though is it but tbh, now that my other half will be the main bread winner, we were going to struggle no matter what. We will be losing 18k a year so gaining anything extra will all go to help (I hope).
Just glad we know we are entitled to child benefit at this stage!

Yes I imagine you'll get the minimum. It's about £20 a week until the baby is one, then goes down to £10 a week.

It's normally done on your previous year's income, but if it will be drastically different they will adjust, so you might get more.

You would be entitled to some money with a joint income of 24k.

However, because of the changes, I'm not sure pricesly how much. What I would do is wait until April, then when the online calculator has been adjusted to just put in a DOB for you child of 1st April, you will get a better idea that way. You won't be able to claim until after your child is born, same as with Child Benefit.

Thank you so much ladies, it's another thing that I can tick of my "list of things to do before I drop"

You will be entitled to the same as us - because they are removing the baby element from April you are only entitled to the family element - £575 per year I think from memory. So in the first year (until March) you would get about £12/week.

From April 2012 they are then lowering the earnings limit so you are likely to get nothing.

They normally apply last years income - so you need to apply giving last years earnings - then contact them with your predicted income for the current year and they will recalculate your entitlement.

This is all what we have researched - for our baby due in May, and similar income to yours. So totally theoretical at this stage. DH works in tax so is a bit quicker at these things than me and can make more sense of it. The tax calculator things on the web don't help at all as they only have current figures in and don't allow for changes from April.