recently married - tax requirements?

purerandom

hi all,
after getting married in June i am aware of a spouse election form that i can fill out so my wife and i can combine tax credits, etc.
I called the tax office but they provided little help and no real advice.
Can someone advise me on what is the best setup?
i have a perm job but my wife has been subbing as a teacher for the last 2 years.
if anyone could help me out i would appreciate it as i dont really understand why this is needed and what the benefit to us would be.

maddogcollins

Have a read of this, it may be of some help http://bit.ly/bE4yme

Also the assessable spouse form is available on this page http://bit.ly/cF0rU5

Hope that helps you out a bit.

angelfire9

Have a look here it gives info on taxation of married persons http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it2.html

Couples taxed under Joint Assessment can specify how they wish their tax credits and standard rate band to be allocated between them via the Internet using our PAYE Anytime service. This means you do not have to contact Revenue to have changes made. Once you confirm the changes you want made, a new Tax Credit Certificate will issue within a few days with the amended details included. PAYE Anytime also allows you to claim a range of reliefs including Rent Relief, Home Carers Tax Credit, Bin Charges, Health Expenses and many others as well as the facility to claim refunds for the previous 4 years. Further information on PAYE Anytime including the full range of reliefs is available.

You can also download the Assessable Spouse Election Form from my link above and allocate both tax credits & SRCOP to either spouse as required

murphym7

I have a specific question. Both my wife and I earn the same salary - is there any benefit of staying as we are as apposed to joint assesment. Is it pretty much the same?

nompere

murphym7 wrote: »

I have a specific question. Both my wife and I earn the same salary - is there any benefit of staying as we are as apposed to joint assesment. Is it pretty much the same?

Joint assessment and separate assessment should always produce the same level of taxation - the only difference lies in who pays more or less of the tax, and that gets determined by how you share credits, etc.

Single assessment will never produce a lower amount of tax than separate assessment - but if circumstances change then it can produce a higher amount of tax.

From a practical point of view it's harder for Revenue to go wrong when you are jointly assessed. I'm sure all practising tax people have seen two separate assessments where the divisions haven't worked properly. I know I have.

Quaderno

murphym7 wrote: »

I have a specific question. Both my wife and I earn the same salary - is there any benefit of staying as we are as apposed to joint assesment. Is it pretty much the same?

As far as I know the Home Carer's Tax Credit depends on the couple in question being jointly assessed, so there may be other benefits as well that you can not avail of while being assessed separately..