Home Carers Tax Credit

the_head

Hi,

I was hoping somebody could advise on eligibility for Home Carers Tax Credit. My wife and i are married 5 years and have been jointly assessed the year after marriage. We had a child in 2017 and my wife has been on maternity leave \ not gone back to work since then.

The question is for the year of 2018 my wife was finishing her unpaid maternity leave then moved onto job seekers allowance until this ran out in the middle of that year. Can I claim the Home Carers Tax Credit for that year? The total she received in the year is under the allowed ~ 7K for that year but I am unsure if the maternity leave / jobseekers claim impacts the eligibility for this tax credit

November Golf

the_head wrote: »

Hi,

I was hoping somebody could advise on eligibility for Home Carers Tax Credit. My wife and i are married 5 years and have been jointly assessed the year after marriage. We had a child in 2017 and my wife has been on maternity leave \ not gone back to work since then.

The question is for the year of 2018 my wife was finishing her unpaid maternity leave then moved onto job seekers allowance until this ran out in the middle of that year. Can I claim the Home Carers Tax Credit for that year? The total she received in the year is under the allowed ~ 7K for that year but I am unsure if the maternity leave / jobseekers claim impacts the eligibility for this tax credit

I think it your wife that needs make the claim as the credit is a substitution for her PAYE tax credit. The maternity leave shouldn't effect the claim to home carer tax credit if she was not getting a PAYE income. If your wife was in receipt of Maternity Benefit this is taxable and will count toward the income eligibility.

Jobseekers Allowance is exempt from Tax and is not regarded for eligibility however Jobseekers Benefit is so you will need to be clear which payment she was receiving.

You should also note that claiming the credit could effect your standard rate cut-off point (the point at which you start paying the marginal rate of tax 40%). For that you might be best to ring revenue for advice.

Check out this document for more Information

the_head

Thanks for the link that is extremely helpful!

Just to clarify she recived one small final payment from company for remaining holidays and it was Jobseekers Benifit that she recived. However both these combined still do not reach the €7200 income limit

November Golf

the_head wrote: »

Thanks for the link that is extremely helpful!

Just to clarify she received one small final payment from company for remaining holidays and it was Jobseekers Benefit that she received. However both these combined still do not reach the €7200 income limit

In that case, she would get the full benefit of the credit. (€1,200 in 2018 and, if applicable, €1,500 in 2019).

the_head

Great....Thanks Mike Foxtrot.

We are already claming for 2019 but i was unsure about 2018 as it was not a standard case. I guess there is no harm in submitting it online and see if they issue a refund