Working Tax Credits

[Bee7]

This is probably going to sound a bit silly, but just wondering if anyone can tell me how working tax credits work. I know that it's something you apply for after baby is born if both me and OH work. I also know that it is dependent on how many hours you work and our salaries. But i've just been through the whole tedious process of trying to use the benefit calculator and it said 'you are not entitled to child tax credit but ARE entitled to working tax credit - you are entitled to: £0'. Genius.

I'm pretty worried because after baby is born i will take a dip in earnings whilst on maternity leave and long term i will only be going back to work part time, so we're definitely going to have less money. We're already both on fairly low incomes and our joint income is roughly 28k. I've tried using the direct.gov website but it drives me mad. Does anyone know roughly how much we'd be eligible for? xxx

 

[mishi]

http://taxcredits.hmrc.gov.uk/Qualify/WhatAreTaxCredits.aspx

Try the above link babes, my friend is in a similar situation (she works 3 days a week now and her oh is fulltime and combined income is about 30k) and I think she gets around £500 plus her childcare costs.xx

 

[JensBump]

You can phone them up for an estimate that's what I did - you need both yours and your OH's end of year income for 2010/2011 - I received the forms this week after phoning last week

 

[BevG]

working tax credits are a wage topup thingy for ppl over 25 that work a certain amount of hours a week. as long as you earn less than a certain amount you get some money. child tax credits are something you get after baby is born along with child benefit

 

[hellywelly]

I tried the calculator thing and couldn't make head nor tail of it!! At the moment apparently we are just over the threshold but I will be going back 3 days a week so we will be under then. Can you apply when your maternity pay drops you below the threshold or do you have to wait until you are actually back at work part-time? I honestly think I'm not stupid person but I really feel like this is quite hard to understand considering the information on Direct Gov!!! lol Thin our situation is also complicated due to hubby being self employed. Guess figuring this out will give me something to do on my maternity leave!!

 

[JJ Mum]

As long as one of you works for 18 or more hours you can claim WFTC.

Ask them about maternity money, as I was told that they only count anything you get paid over and above the £100 ish SMP amount, (like if your work tops it up for a few weeks), so that cuts down your earnings and then your eligle to more working families tax credit. Child tax credit only comes to about £500 a year.

Always make sure you tell them if anything changes and keep an eye on your value of Taxable year to date as April (the end of tax year) approaches , to make sure you let them know if your getting more than you estimated at the start of the year, or they adjust it the following year and you get less to pay it back, throwing your budget out a bit..

We couldn't do without ours , it's a godsend

 

[jojo_2012]

If you earn more than 16k you don't get working tax credits.
If you earn more than 40k you don't get child tax credits even childcare element.

If you're on maternity leave you have to tell them, they disregard £100 a week of your income so you might be entitled now even if you aren't usually.

I find the best thing to do with tax credits is to ring them up, but whatever you do check every detail they send you because they feck it up so often and people have to pay it back.

 

[Bee7]

Thanks for this ladies. I think we will definitely be eligible. I worked out the reason it said i was entitled to £0....in the box where it said when was your baby born, i put my due date! Therefore they obviously worked it out that since he's not here yet we won't get anything, doh! May have another play around with the calculator, or just ring up. Its so much easier speaking to an actual person that trying to make sense of calculators and websites xxx

 

[Bee7]

Mishi, you say your friend and partner get roughly £500...is this per month? Sorry but this website is so unclear. It gives you an amount but doesnt specify if that's weekly, monthly or yearly! xx

 

[Loula]

From what i gathered you have to have earnt less then 16k frm april 2010 til april 2011 i think, If you ring them make sure you have your last p60 to hand aswell as your partners if youi have one. The woman did it all over the phone and even told me how much i should be entitled to then sent through the forms in which yiou have to repeat the process again. Defo worth trying i have xxx