Confused about tax credits

[Bear1984]

Hi all, I'm currently trying to work out what benefits we'll be entitled to as my employment contract comes to an end this week, and so once it has, DP will be moving in with me and DD (9) and I am expecting (20+1 weeks). I rent the property.

I've just been doing a benefit estimate questionnaire on DirectGov based on when DP moves in and I'm unemployed which says that we should be entitled to WTC. DP is FT employed. But when doing the calculator on the Tax Credits website, it says we would not be entitled to WTC.

I know that the TC are based on last year's income, which for DP is roughly £16500. I earnt about £2300 as I have only been doing a 6 month contract part time. But just wanted to check with others if we would be entitled to it or not? I'm very confused lol.

Ooo wait, think I may have figured it out. Do we need to both be working? As I'm self employed but don't expect to be earning much or working a lot over the next few months before I can start earning maternity allowance.

try www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx its always been spot on for me.

Ooo fab, thank you! I'll try that one.

Hi bear ok here's what happened. Your combined income for previous tax year is just slightly above the threshold for WTC. You need to make a joint claim and declare both incomes for tax year 2011/2012. You will get a decision telling you that you're not entitled to WTC and awarding you CTC only. Once you get the decision you need to phone the Tax Credits Office and tell them that your income for the current tax year is going to be lower. Before you call work out how much you think your combined income might be. Bear in mind that even if you're not employed you should be able to claim Maternity Allowance in the current tax year. This is the same amount of SMP (statutory maternity pay) but it's a flat rate (there's no higher amount for the first 6 weeks). it's paid for up to 39 weeks and the earliest you can receive it is from 29 weeks of pregnancy. You need the include your MA in your estimated combined annual income. For example if you start receiving MA on 2nd November, you will have approximately 26 weeks worth of MA allowance in the current tax year i.e. up to beginning of April 2013.
If you are entitled to MA then it's likely your combined income will be above the WTC threshold. It's always better to overestimate one's income slightly rather than the other way round to avoid overpayment. If you're underpaid, the Tax Credits office will pay you back at the end of the tax year, usually in a lump sum.
Don't forget to check if you're entitled to housing benefit.
HTH :)

Thank you olimpia. That makes much more sense to me! Do you know what the threshold is as I haven't been able to find a figure, so that's what's confusing me as well. You've been very helpful :)

Last time I checked it was £17,805 but please don't quote me on that! I've been on maternity leave since January this year so it may well have changed in the mean time!

That's fine olimpia. Least it gives me a rough idea so most likely we will be over, but least I know now! Lol. Thanks again :)

Just wanted to say that MA does not count for tax credits. It gets fully disregarded.

Thanks for letting me know MrsHuxtable!