Tax credits while on maternity leave

Hiya, just wondering if any of you would have a clue about this.. I'm going to be getting the state maternity entitlement and then my job will give me €50 a week on top of it. Better then nothing I guess. My DH and I arnt completly in the know about tax credits and were wondering if its worth me handing my tax credits to him for a few months. Does the system work like that?

u can only give him ur half of the married credit which i think is 1630 or something like that if u havent already given it to him that is. but u prob have some it already used if uve been working the last 4 months. instead of doing anything u can apply for p21 at the end of the year and they wil automatically calculate if ur DH has overpaid tax based on what you earned and tax credits you didnt use.

Hi Urban Fairy. I am getting state benefit with no contributions from my employer so it's slightly more straighforward for me in that I will simply give all my tax credits to my husband. In theory you should be able to transfer your unused credits to him. How you figure out what's unused though - I don't know, maybe the person who does accounts in your office can help you?

Thanks girls. I will see about this P21 form adn read up on it. Cheers

I was under the impression that you could build up tax credits so that when you do return to work you will be getting taxed very little or in some cases not at all..... I'm taking unpaid leave from January to April next year and I'm presuming this is what will happen. My paid leave is July to December this year - do you think I would still need to be re-imbursed for over-paid tax?

Thats a good point Iannah, I'll post up whatever reply the citizens advice bureau give me back

I contacted both citizens advice, and my aunt who works in the revenue (I'm always forgetting to utilise her profession! ). This is her reply for anyone interested! [b:2ieg43ko]UF[/b:2ieg43ko], The €50 pay from your employer is taxable, so you will need some of your credits to cover this. If you are going back to work , any credits not used by you while on maternity leave will be allowed by your employer on your return. This may mean paying no tax or reduced tax on your first few salary payments. If your extended leave means you are not back to work long enough before Dec 31 to use up your credits, you and [b:2ieg43ko]UF's DH[/b:2ieg43ko] can request a review (P21 Balancing Statement) in the New Year. If you register for PAYE Anytime, you can check your credits etc online. Details are on the Revenue website. Cheers, [b:2ieg43ko]UF'S AUNT[/b:2ieg43ko]