Taxation after Maternity Leave

natc

Ok so I’ve just finished my maternity leave this week and my take home pay has dropped by a significant amount.

I was receiving maternity benefit (€245 weekly) paid direct to my employer and I received my normal wage. I was put on a week one basis when my tax credit cert was issued for maternity leave.

My question is: is it normal for pay to drop so significantly upon my return to normal pay? It appears I am paying quite a large amount in PAYE now. I thought that when it all went through my employer and I was paying tax etc that it should t really change.

Edit to clarify: I am joint assessed with my spouse. Combined Income level still well below standard rate cut off point. We split our credits evenly I have my personal and PAYE. My income is slightly higher than his (should prob look at moving credits really)

Spouse took his paternity leave the previous two weeks. No top up from employer so just €245 state benefit. He did receive a refund in PAYE last Thursday though, could that have anything to do with it?

gerrybbadd

natc wrote: »

Ok so I’ve just finished my maternity leave this week and my take home pay has dropped by a significant amount.

I was receiving maternity benefit (€245 weekly) paid direct to my employer and I received my normal wage. I was put on a week one basis when my tax credit cert was issued for maternity leave.

My question is: is it normal for pay to drop so significantly upon my return to normal pay? It appears I am paying quite a large amount in PAYE now. I thought that when it all went through my employer and I was paying tax etc that it should t really change.

Edit to clarify: I am joint assessed with my spouse. Combined Income level still well below standard rate cut off point. We split our credits evenly I have my personal and PAYE. My income is slightly higher than his (should prob look at moving credits really)

Spouse took his paternity leave the previous two weeks. No top up from employer so just €245 state benefit. He did receive a refund in PAYE last Thursday though, could that have anything to do with it?

Your tax credits will have been reduced to account for tax due on the maternity pay. This is automatically done by revenue's system, when it's "talking" to Social Welfare's system.

Revenue won't have known that your employer has already taxed this through your pay. So give Revenue a ring, and tell them the situuation. Your tax credits will be amended

JenD87

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Your tax credits will have been reduced to account for tax due on the maternity pay. This is automatically done by revenue's system, when it's "talking" to Social Welfare's system.

Revenue won't have known that your employer has already taxed this through your pay. So give Revenue a ring, and tell them the situuation. Your tax credits will be amended

This happened to me in 2017.
Revenue said it was because of the maternity pay. The tax credits were reduced until 2018. Then everything went back to normal.
However when I did my p21 I was due a substantial sum of money back.

natc

Thanks for the replies.

I rang revenue and basically they need a notice from DEASP to say my maternity benefit has ceased on the date stated above and once they see that they will amend my tax credits then.

Letter from revenue sent out in post today so hopefully will be sorted within the next couple of weeks.

Peppery

I came off maternity at start of July and my take home pay is down by around 300euro a month. I rang revenue and was told that if I go back on cumulative tax I won't receive any pay in the next couple of pay days because they will take all the extra tax due until the end of the year. The woman on the phone just kept repeating that the tax was correct even though I can't work out how when I didn't get any extra take home pay during maternity...I asked her if I would be getting tax back next year when it's all calculated and she said no that the tax was being calculated correctly...I'm very confused!! And worried because I'm due to job share in a few weeks so will be taking a serious pay cut as it is.

is this just standard and should I ring back and be more assertive? Or is it possible that I didn't notice an extra 300euro each month...

natc

Peppery wrote: »

I came off maternity at start of July and my take home pay is down by around 300euro a month. I rang revenue and was told that if I go back on cumulative tax I won't receive any pay in the next couple of pay days because they will take all the extra tax due until the end of the year. The woman on the phone just kept repeating that the tax was correct even though I can't work out how when I didn't get any extra take home pay during maternity...I asked her if I would be getting tax back next year when it's all calculated and she said no that the tax was being calculated correctly...I'm very confused!! And worried because I'm due to job share in a few weeks so will be taking a serious pay cut as it is.

is this just standard and should I ring back and be more assertive? Or is it possible that I didn't notice an extra 300euro each month...

Did revenue say if they received a statement from DEASP with your maternity payment dates? Until they receive notice from DEASP that your claim is closed your pay won’t be rectified. They need to issue a new tax cert upon receipt of this statement.

I emailed maternity section requesting the statement and I had it two working days later. I then uploaded a pic of it through the my enquiry section on revenue and followed up with a phone call later that same day. New tax cert was issued that week and pay sorted by the following payroll. I got a lot of tax back. My wages are now only down by whatever my PRSI is now compared to what I was on when receiving maternity benefit.