Money question

[linzoid]

My dh works 60/70 hours a week, i get Child tax credit. My question is, if he did less hours would we get more tax credit to make it up and therefore still be just as well off. My dh is sick of never seeing his sons and wondered whether there is a particular figure that the tax credits make your income up to???

depends on how much your income falls by and what it is anyway. Over £25k p.a. tax credits hardly worth the paperwork.

60/70 hours sounds pretty bad. Does he do any of that at home?

I think anything over £22k gets to the basic tax credit of about £450 per year. Maximum benefits of a few grand if you earn only £5k. In between are there various step levels at which the amount changes.

I.e they don't make up your pay to a minimum amount.

Not sure of your circumstances

You might be due working tax credits if you work over a 18 hours a week and your income is less than £15k.

message withdrawn

Try this for a quick ready reckoner as to what credit you'd get at various levels of income. As you says "sons" in the plural, then you could get help with childcare costs up to a maximum income of £42,527 (assuming you both work 16+ hours a week). Without childcare costs it's about £21,600. If your income is lower than this then basically by the time you've paid tax @ 22%, NI @ 11% and lost your tax credit at a rate of 27p in the pound, you are paying an effective tax rate of 60p in the pound.