Current tax calculator including child benefit

[Crumpledstilstkin]

Hi,

I'm trying to work out take home pay for going back from maternity leave and struggling. Does anyone have a tax calculator they use that takes into account the child benefit payback or can check these figures for me?

The rough figures I have are:
FT: £85k minus tax gives £58k.
3 days a week: £51k minus tax gives about £38.4k but saves 2 days nursery (approx £12k pa saving because of 2 in nursery and one getting the 30hrs) and we'd get child benefit of £2.4k total for 3 kids.

So basically I'm busting a gut working 2 extra days a week for a grand total of £5k take home per YEAR? And that's minus the extra 2 days after school club and holiday clubs. You can see why I think this can't be right 😅

Thank you!

@Crumpledstilstkin try listentotaxman first as their calculator is derailed. It wouldn’t have child benefit payment though.

The difference is not just tax but also NI and possibly pension contributions. It is a known factor that when you reduce hours your net pay does not drop by the same % as your gross salary. This is because the element of salary you give up is the element that has the highest deductions.

It is why I always point out to women going part time on return from mat leave that the best option is for both parents to work 4 day weeks either part time or compressed hours. You only need 3 days child care and the element of salary you each lose is that which is most highly taxed, NI’d etc. plus the hit to pensions is equally shared.

Your rough figures appear right to me. The bit you need to check is impact on your pension as that is a hidden benefit.

Thank you both. Think the pension figures balance out anyway as that means I'd put my bonus in to pension as I'd effectively get £5k in pension for the cost of £1.5k to me. So frustrating, it's really stressful working full time and now I find out I've basically done it for free!

Glad to help. I appreciate the frustration having struggled to work FT.