Tax credits, how do they work it out?

[KirstyD]

I've gone through the tax credits questionnaire and when you answer the question do you have any kids under 16 as yes the household income threshold goes up to £58000. Is this the amount you actually take home after tax and that or gross salaries or what?

We normally earn more than this when both working full time but when i go down to SMP i'll be earning less however i'm not sure how long i'll be off work for and whether i'll earn under that or not over the year.

What do you recon i need to do?

 

[Snuggle]

The tax credit thing baffles me. They dont give us anything, hubby works fulltime but I dont work at all so who knows!

 

[kalia]

It asks about last tax year so you fill it in with your gross salaries. You can call them with a revised estimate of your income (though I think it's the same amount if you earn £25 000 or £50 000, it's not a particulalry sliding scale). At the end of the tax year if your income is more than you said and they have overpaid tax credits they will take them back (from future tax credit payments if I understand correctly) or if your income is less and you would have been entitled to more tax credits they will pay you the extra money.