Joint assessment for married couple

[Jj99watt]

Hi all,
Seeking some advice,
Myself and my wife married 3 years ago.we havnt registered the marriage
With revenue yet,have been advised to complete an assessable spouse election form in order to do so.
We are both civil servants earning circa €42,000.however I work a lot of overtime and would have significantly higher net income,also she has been on maternity leave(paid & unpaid) for the last 10 months.
In relation to nominating one of us as the assessable person and as how to divide tax credits is the question I have,
Which is the most favorable way to do so,
Any advice appreciated.

 

[T McGibney]

Which is the most favorable way to do so,
Any advice appreciated.

Depends on your own preferences - do you want her to have more money in her pocket or you in yours or does it make a difference?

Unless there's a compelling reason to do it differently, split your credits equally. Simpler and less prone to confusion and errror.

 

[David1234]

As you both have been in the higher tax bracket for the last few years an equal allocation of allowances makes most sense.

The unpaid maternity leave could give rise to a tax refund at the end of the year depending on your wife's total earnings. If your wife earns less than €34,550 for 2018 you should transfer the balance at the lower band to you to give you an increase in the 20% tax band.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/tax/income_tax/taxation_of_married_people.html

 

[T McGibney]

The unpaid maternity leave could give rise to a tax refund at the end of the year depending on your wife's total earnings. If your wife earns less than €34,550 for 2018 you should transfer the balance at the lower band to you to give you an increase in the 20% tax band.

In my experience, it best not to do this unless there is financial hardship or another compelling reason to do so as the more often you adjust your tax bands etc, the greater the chance that someone makes a mess of it that can't be easily resolved.

 

[David1234]

The revenue are unaware that they are married so if there has been an overpayment of tax this year they will not get a refund unless they provide the relevant forms.

From my experience it's quite straightforward to change the tax bands and credit allocation VIA myaccount once it is set up. My wife is currently on unpaid leave and we will be due a refund at the end of the year. I will hold off until we get out P60s for the year to ensure that we get the correct amount refunded. You can back date the allocations so it's easy enough to do so for a calendar year. I will change them back once she has a return date set.