Maternity benefit - Get paid through employer or Directly to my bank account?

[kimkim]

I will be starting maternity leave in September, my employer is paying me in full while on leave. I have been trying to work out if it makes any difference if I get my maternity benefit paid directly to my employer and receive my pay cheque as usual each month or get my maternity benefit paid directly into my bank account and my employer pay the difference. I realise that if my benefit is paid through my employer that I can claim back the tax paid on the benefit.

However, according to my calculations, I still work out better off (about €100 a month) if I get my benefit paid directly to myself, even allowing for claiming back tax (last time I got a refund of about €1000). As I work part time, if my employer just has to pay me the top-up amount, my salary is only 17K, so will not be taxed, so it works out better than if my employer is paying my full salary, which would be taxed at the higher rate.

Am I correct in working it out this way? Also, I will be taking 16 weeks unpaid leave so will not be earning anything during that period.

I hope this is clear.

Kimkim

 

[helsbells]

Get the MB paid direct into your bank account. Your employer should then deduct your gross wage by the amount of the MB payment (assuming your wage is being topped up by your employer) You may as well get the benefit of the gross MB payment immediately rather than having to reclaim back at the end of the tax year. Good luck with it everything.

 

[kimkim]

Thanks for that, will get that sorted so.