General tax question

jethrothe2nd

We are due our first child in February. My wife will finish work and claim maternity benefit from the 22nd December. She will not return to work after the maternity benefit period has finished.

Can I claim her tax free allowance from the time her maternity benefit has finished, and if so, how do I work out what the effect of that would be on my take home salary?

Also, we got married in April this year, and until my wife stops work in Dec, we will have been taxed as singles. Are there any benefits for being taxed as a married couple that we may be able to get tax returns on from April-Dec?

relax carry on

The link below will take you to the what to do when you marry section of the Revenue website. It is pretty straightforward but put simply, if you wish to use a portion of your spouses tax credits and rate band you will need to opt to be Joint assessed for 2012 onwards. You do this by completing the assessable spouse form on the Revenue link. You will need to work out if it is worthwhile taking all available to transfer or just a portion. Look at your likely incomes for 2012 to determine the split. You would need to do this within the next few weeks to have it apply right from the start next year.

Regarding 2011, you will both need your P60's for 2011 to request a year of marriage review. Depending on your incomes you may be entitled to a refund.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it2.html