Tax Credits & Maintanance - PLEASE HELP

[yummymummysammy]

Before I go ringing the tax credit helpline if there is such a thing can anyone help?

Im on maternity leave and as of next month wont be getting anymore money and faced with the dilemma of shall I or shant I return to work after the full year. I've got some savings to live off till then.

My partner earns I think above the threshold amount, great, however, he pays out a huge amount to his ex wife in spousal and child maintance. She works 16 hours a week and as far as I can tell will probably also get the full wack in tax credits being as they dont take maintanance payments into consideration, be that fair or not who is to say but lets say im in no doubt she's pretty well off!!!!

What about us though, surely they take our maintanance payments into consideration? Otherwise all we get in benefits is the £80 child benefit. Which means close to nothing after paying the bills and the maintance. Its not like we live in an expensive house and we dont have any credits cards, debts etc.

We cant be the only family in this situation as there are lots of couples out there paying maintanance trying to start new families with no help from the government if this is the case????? Even if i go back part time after childcare fees and the messing about with picking up and dropping off etc i'll earn so little I know i'll just end up feeling crap about it.

This is my first post so thank you so much for taking the time to read it and hope someone out there can help me!!!

Sam xxxxx

 

[yummymum]

From what the FOB told me they dont take into condseration what mantenice u pay out sorry

 

[BabyLover]

I don't think they take maintanance into consideration as this is a payment that has to be payed wether you are working or on benefits...

I suppose because your partner is over the threshold and with you havng a little bit of savings you are not going to get hardly anything, but it's worth the try od ringing them and see what you maybe entilted to, but watch tax credits they almost certainly pay you loads to start off with and then they tend to send you a letter a couple of months down the line, saying you have occured an overpayment, just be aware! As you would have to pay back the whole amount!

Hope this helps you, if you need anymore help just pm me, as I know alot about benefits lol

Donna x

 

[titch]

Hiya, Im not sure about this, Ive never claimed anything but with the baby coming we will need to. How do you find out what the threshold is? All I can find is 'on a low income' but surely thats all relative!! I really dont want to bother applying if we are too 'rich' (* logging onto freecycle to check for more free stuff Im too poor to buy for my LO * )

 

[BabyLover]

here are the figures you get per year, depending on your income PA:

. Not working - You get £2,780 for one child, £5,020 for two children and £7,255 for three children.
. Working and earning up to £20,000 PA, you will get £1,240 for one child, £3,475 for two children and £5,710 for 3 children
. Working and earning from £25,000 to £50,00 you will get only £545 for all 3 children
. Working and earning over £55,000 you will only get £210 for upto 3 children
. If you are earning over £60,000 you get nothing.

These figures are based on the figures published each year and can be effected if you have savings etc....

Hope this helps

Donna xx

 

[BabyLover]

Try this link, it is a link to see if you are entitled to anything whilst working:

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

 

[titch]

ah thankyou donna thats a big help. i assume thats joint income? We need to have another baby i think!!!

 

[titch]

looks like we wont be entitled to anything before baby is born. was hoping we might be entitled to a small amount of working tax credit cos then we could claim the sure start maternity grant. I thought we would cos neither of us earn over 20k pa. infact our jointed income is less than 30k pa. Sometimes i think Id be better off not working at all. Id get too bored though!

 

[BabyLover]

ah thankyou donna thats a big help. i assume thats joint income? We need to have another baby i think!!!

Yes that is joint income x

 

[yummymummysammy]

thank you!!!! - do you know though about being self employed? My Partner is so would his earnings be his share of the profit at the end of the year before tax I assume? I see that they deduct pension contributions, do you know off hand what this means? Is it any pension contributions or is it one of those things where you are employed and giving to a company pension? Sorry for all the questions! Think i might have to give them a ring....

 

[titch]

all the details should be on your P60 at the end of the tax year. Presumably your OH gets this after he's done a tax return?