Tax credits?

[MrsC2810]

I'm confused about applying for tax credits.
im on mat leave atm and will be going back to work PT (20hrs) in June. I will earn 8559 before tax for 2015/16. My H earns around 16k.
Before I got pregnant i was working FT and H was working nights so our income has drastically reduced.
we have 1 child who wont need childcare.
they said they use income from 13/14 which is when we earnt more but we arent now so im not sure what to do.

Will we be entitled to any tax credits? I've tried to use the entitledto website but its so complicated. Just wondered if anyone else had the same situation and if you are eligible.

Thanks in advance.

They will initially base any award on your income for 2014-15 which will give you a nil award as you will have earnt too much. You can then ring them back with an estimated income for 2015-16 and they should then revise your figures. The threshold with one child and no childcare costs is around £26k 9 possible less) so you may get awarded a small amount, it won't be much. However if any of your smp weeks fall after the start of the new tax year you can take off any smp at £100 a week. So for example if you were still getting smp from April to June for say 10 weeks you can discount another £1k from your total income for 2015-16. To be honest the amount you will get won't be much. You can go onto one of the benefit calculaters such as Turn2us to see what amount you might get.

I tried to work out what I would get if I went back to work full time but got confused. I want to speak to someone in person.. any idea whether I need to go to the council or citizens advice?

MrsC apply after the new tax year has started (5th April). They will base it on the previous year's income but you can deduct the first £100 per week for any weeks you were only receiving smp. Or if you want them to base it on your 2015/16 income then wait until you get the letter from them and call them up. Tell them your income is significantly down on the previous year and you want it recalculated. To give you some idea our household income is very similar to yours (within £1000) and we have one child at the moment and get £61 tax credits every 4 weeks. So that's the kind of ballpark figure you are looking at unless childcare costs are involved.

Thanks all, We've been discussing the possibility of me doing more hours and using childcare. Would that increase/ grt help with cc?

*meant to say would we get help with childcare.