tax credits help.( im knew to all this)

[Looba84]

hi all.
im a new mum and was working full time before i started mat leave in december. due to return to work part time end of sept. my hubby works full time earning 16k per year.
my issue is i spoke to the tax credit office and they sugessted i would be entitled to something since i was on mat leave and my income dropped so i applied and have been told im not entitled to anything! :( ie since rang and said my hours on returning to work will be reduced so they have re-evaluated my claim and still said im not entitled? this is really frustrating as i know we should probably get something.
has anyone else had this nightmare when dealing with tax credits?
also im know considering not returning to work due to the cost of child care, does anyone know what amount we would get if my husband was the only one working? :S

sorry for being long winded :) any info would be a great help x

*new!

Have you looked on the entitled to website? (Google entitled to. Com).

You can enter lots of different scenarios and see what you would get. Tax credits are worked out on last years income so this may be part of the issue with your income and maternity leave etc.

My dh earns £15k, we have two children and I don't work. We receive £139 a week (child and working tax credits combined).

Also meant to add if you did decide to return to work I believe tax credits pays up to 70 per cent of childcare costs.

I would think you would get something

As previous poster said try using entitled to website or hmrc have their own calculator online

Last year I earnt about £11,000 and my partner about £16,000 we currently get money for the dc (3 of them) and help with childcare

thanks for the replies. ill try entitledto
xx

Dd you give them 13-14 income or projected 14-15 income? You need to give 14-15 income. Have you looked on the hmrc tax credit calculator? Remember again where it asks for 13-14 income you need to enter 14-15.

i think i did. but will go on the calculator ;)

Is it still the case that your SMP is excluded from the calculation so you have to deduct £2,600 from your salary?

Do I tell them my protected earning for next year?

You need to give them a prediction for this tax year (2014-2015) otherwise they assume you are going to earn the same as the last tax year

Thanks

I also looking at seeing what we are entitled to, I had my p60 come recently so that's handy for accurate figures, but do you put what you actually earned on that financial year? How do you work out what you earn for this year? It's too confusing for me

Oh yes and what random said. But only for the weeks you get SMP in this financial year, so assuming you claimed now and got SMP for the next 2 months you would only deduct £800

Ohdear are you salaried or self employed? If salaried it shouldn't be hard to project your earnings for this year. Remember it's a projection, you update with accurate info after the end of the tax year.

What if you are self employed? DP and I both are. We could make a reasonably accurate assessment of 13/14 income (haven't done tax return yet) but it would be very hard to estimate 14/15 as our income can fluctuate hugely.

No i am employed
Full time! I earned just short of 18k last year so I feel I won't be entitled
To anything! And dh earned around 16k

At £34k probably not.

You need to estimate if you are self emotes. You can change the figure part way through the year if you think the figure will go up significantly.

The cut off with one child is £26k, so if you think you will earn less than this in 2014-15 you should get something. The threshold is higher if you have childcare costs too though. As long as you both work 16 hours or more a week and your child is in Ofsted registered childcare you may get something.

Just to add, if your partner is on a low income you will probably get so much in tax creidts and working tax credits that you will get the equivalent of a small wage. I think it's an awful system that disincentivises people to work in this way, but that's the way it is. Try to think long term and that it will be beneficial to keep working if possible.

Am I right in thinking though with regards to SE you can't back claim? So if I thought I was going to earn more than I did I can't retrospectively claim, but if I underestimate my earnings and go over I have to pay back? System seems shonky if you are SE or your earnings vary quite a bit.