Was partner taxed whilst on maternity leave?

NIMAN

Bear with me on this one, might take a little bit of explaining.

I visited an accountant approx 6 months ago re: advice about renting, making tax return, seeing if due a rebate etc. Just general topics.

One of the things which came out of the meeting was the fact that my wife, who was off on maternity leave from Dec 2009 - June 2010, was likely to have been taxed on her wages (or maternity benefit?) when she should not have been. Accountant said that the Gov did this to all PS workers and they then have to claim a rebate, although many know nothing about it.

Accountant told me to get an MB21 statement issued and this would allow tax to be claimed back.

Did this, got the statement, but when she called the local tax office they said that she would not have been taxed and that she was not entitled to anything. Now either the accountant or the Tax Office is wrong, but I just don't know which.

I did search some forums and there does indeed seem to be some comments along the lines that she should be due a rebate.

Can anyone on this forum help?

BarMcc

Maternity Benefit is not taxable. Maternity benefit is paid by the State.

However, if the maternity benefit is paid to the employer and the employer pays the employee (possibly with a top up payment) it may be taxed.

The accountant was right to get you to request an MB21 and forward it to your local tax office.

If you are unsure as to whether the maternity benefit was taxed you can check the payslips or the P60 to see if maternity benefit is included in gross pay. If maternity benefit is included in gross pay then it was taxed and a refund is due.

NIMAN

BarMcc wrote: »

Maternity Benefit is not taxable. Maternity benefit is paid by the State.

However, if the maternity benefit is paid to the employer and the employer pays the employee (possibly with a top up payment) it may be taxed.

The accountant was right to get you to request an MB21 and forward it to your local tax office.

If you are unsure as to whether the maternity benefit was taxed you can check the payslips or the P60 to see if maternity benefit is included in gross pay. If maternity benefit is included in gross pay then it was taxed and a refund is due.

Thanks for that, will check the P60. When are these issued in RoI?

km79

hi . i was going to post something similar and i have a follow on question. if my wife is not being taxed while on mat leave should i take some of her tax credits to keep my wages out of the 41% band (prob bit late now though mat leave nearly up)

uglybetty

Hiya,
I'm an accountant and it is not too late to get your tax back from last year (from your wife who was on maternity leave). You will need to call your local tax office and explain the situation and tell them you want to be 'jointly assessed' rather than 'seperately assessed' so that if your wife is not earning, you get her tax credits etc.

Hope that helps!

km79

thanks for the replies.
we are jointly assessed. i had taken a certain amount of her tax allowances - she kept around 28000 so that she remained in the lower tax band while i took the balance. this means that some of my wages in the higher band. So i guess what im asking is should i have just taken the whole lot if she is not using any? and as you suggested can this be claimed back for last year?