Unpaid maternity leave... tax credits?

Hi

I have just finished my 4.5 month paid maternity leave and I am taking an additional 4 weeks unpaid.
Do I need to inform tax office, do I have an entitlement to some form of tax relief etc for the month... a friend mentioned this to me but I am totally clueless in this regard.
Thanks

4.5 months rather than 6 months' leave?

In any case, as you will returning to work this year, the tax "benefit" of your unpaid month off will be dealt with through your payroll. There is no need to advise the tax office.

For your paid maternity leave - were you paid by your employer? If so, you might be entitled to a tax refund at the end of the year. The maternity benefit paid by the department of social welfare is not taxable. In many cases, where an employer continues to pay an employee who is on maternity leave, they get the social welfare payment sent to them and then pay the employee and just tax the full amount as normal. In such a case, the employee will have overpaid tax for the year. To obtain a tax refund in this scenario, you should get a statement from the department of social welfare of the amount of maternity benefit paid to you this year, get a statement from your employer confirming that they received the welfare payment and then submit a tax return in January 2011.

You may also have overpaid prsi/health levies - in which case a refund should be applied for using form prsiref1 which can be downloaded from www.welfare.ie

Thanks for reply, that is a great help

Yes I get 4.5 months paid leave with optional additional unpaid leave