Tax Credits advice needed - maternity leave

Hi there,

Hoping someone can help me figure out whether a tax credit transfer will help our finances! Here's our figures

• Baby due in January 2013
• My wife earns 59k and I earn 55k
• My wife will take 9 mths off work (3 mths paid by her company, 3mths with just state benefit and 3 mths unpaid - her company will top up the 3 mths she was just on state benefit once she returns back to work for 2 months, which she will!)

Am i better off transfering her tax credits to me for all of next year? It would really help us out even if we are no better off at the end of the year if I could get some extra money each month rather than waiting on a lump sum at some stage - any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hi- are you already assessed as a married couple for tax purposes or are you assessed separately?

Hi

We're assessed as a married couple, but currently we each have equal tax credits etc. So pretty much the same as before we were married!

thks

There may be someone else on the forum who is more knowledgeable than I am but we were in a similar situation last year and my understanding is that your employer(s) are already preparing and calculating tax due as a married couple so your tax credits will be taken into account for both of you.
What you will want to do is request a balancing statement from Revenue at the start of 2013 for the 2012 tax year (since I am guessing she will begin mat leave in 2012?) and then again in 2014 for the tax year 2013 to make sure any differences in the tax credits are taken into account. Hopefully this will result in an adjustment in your favour! You might want to ensure your (and her) employer is calculating your tax based on a married assessment.

ok , makes sense. So no real point in transfering credits then?