How much is Maternity pay after tax pls?

[nauseous]

Just pg and trying to work out the finances... they're looking pretty tight - eek! I know that child benefit is £18.80 and is tax free - but how old is the baby before you start getting CB?

Don't think you pay tax on Maternity pay (its not enough?) but you might pay a few pounds in NI. You should be able to claim CB from the day the baby is born. You have to register the birth and send the forms off but they should backdate it.

Also, dont forget to see if you qualify for tax credits. here

Maternity pay (smp) is £117.18 per week, you won't pay tax on this.

Child benefit is £18.80 for the first child per week you need to send off the birth certificate to claim this and takes a few weeks. They will backdate it BUT only 3 months of backdating if you leave it 4 months before you claim you lose a month IYSWIM. So get claiming as soon as you can.

It would depend when in the year you go on maternity leave and how much you had earned in the rest of the tax year. If you had already earned/were going to be earning (including your maternity pay) more than the threshold amount for the whole tax year, then yuo would pay either 22% or (if you were a high earner) 40% tax.

Thanks for the input ladies.

So.. if SMP is £117.18 p/week - is that before after the NI is taken off? Can't seem to find this info anywhere online.

That's before NI is taken off nauseous. SMP is considered to be 'earnings' so it's a gross figure before tax and NI and any other deductions someone might have like pension contributions.

Can you have a chat with someone friendly who does payroll where you work, who might be able to tell you exactly how much you will get in your individual case?

Thanks flowery, I'll leave it for a while as only newly pg. Wsa just trying to work out our budget and how much money we really need to start saving...!