Health in Pregnancy Grant Rebate

If you are a pregnant mum, you have one more reason to smile now. UK Goverment and Inland Revenue has announched a new Pregnancy Grant called “Health in Pregnancy Grant” for all would be mums.

From April 2009, you can claim a one-off, tax-free payment from H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) if you’re a mum-to-be who’s at least 25 weeks pregnant. The payment is called ‘Health in Pregnancy Grant’ and is to help you prepare for the birth of your baby.

Your due date needs to be on or after 6 April 2009 for you to make a claim.

You can get the grant if all of the following apply:

you may not get the Pregnancy grant if:

• you are subject to immigration control or
• you are not present, ordinarily resident or have a right to reside in the UK

It’s obvious that HMS would require documentary proofs so you better keep them handy.

The Health in Pregnancy Grant will be a one time payment of £190 for each pregnancy. It will not affect your tax credits or any other benefits. Everyone will get the same amount – you will not be asked about your income.

Get a claim form from your midwife or doctor any time from 1 January 2009 onwards – as long as you’re at least 25 weeks pregnant and your expected delivery date is on or after 6 April 2009. Your midwife or doctor must fill in their part of the form and sign it before giving it to you.

You will need to get your claim form to HMRC within 31 days of your midwife or doctor signing the form – otherwise you may miss out on the grant.

You can get a free text message or email reminder to help you remember to claim if you are not 25 weeks pregnant yet. Signup for a FREE Alert Service.

Do you also know that if you have a existing child you can claim a rebate on your income Tax. Its called Child Tax Credits.

Most of the Information in this post is taken from Direct.Gov.UK

Your Child can be a money saving instrument. No Jokes. Actually 40% people living in UK are totally unaware of child tax credits benefits. They don’t even know that their child can be identified as a rebate. Sad but true.

Child Tax Credit is for people who are responsible for at least one child or qualifying young person. Child Tax Credit is paid direct to the person who is mainly responsible for caring for the child or children. If you are a lone parent you will receive the payment. Child Tax Credit can be paid to workers who continue to pay UK National Insurance Contributions when posted from the UK to work in another country in the European Economic Area.

Each child is a worth an extra £1,900 when it comes to your inland revenue taxes. Childrens’ savings are NOT automatically tax free. They’re taxed as similar to adults and has an annual personal allowance £6,035) the amount earnable from salary, savings or investment income before it’s taxed.

Your child can earn £100 income before the Inland Revenue would attack a tax to it. If a child generates more than £100 interest in the course of the year from money specifically given by each parent, this income is taxed at that parents’ tax rate. That means you can put upto £1,850 in the 3.25% children’s account, and it wouldn’t be taxed, as that would generate around £90. Please note it’s the interest generated from all cash given in this and previous years.

In short, the following Child Tax Credits Benefits may be available for you if you satisify any of the following conditions:

1) You have dependent children and a family income less than £58,000, or £66,350 if you have a baby under a disabled child or a large family and you spend a lot on childcare .
2) You have children and earning less than £16,000 per year.

How much Child Benefit will you get?

There are two separate amounts, with a higher amount for your eldest (or only) child. You get £18.80 a week for your oldest child (going up to £20.00 a week from 5 January 2009) and £12.55 a week (going up to £13.20 a week from 5 January 2009) for each of your other children.

How is Child Benefit paid?

Child Benefit can be paid into any bank, building society, or National Savings & Investments (NS&I) account that accepts Direct Payment. It’s usually paid every four weeks, but it can be paid weekly if you’re getting Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income related Employment and Support Allowance or if you’re a single parent.

Additional note for expectant mothers, From April 2009, you can claim a one-off, tax-free payment from H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) if you’re a mum-to-be who’s at least 25 weeks pregnant. The payment is called ‘Health in Pregnancy Grant’ and is to help you prepare for the birth of your baby.

Hope this Child Tax Credits Guide will help you with your 2009 Tax Filing.

 TaxAct 2008 Deluxe Edition

TaxACT 2008-2009 is a great tax software for budget-conscious people looking for a cheap alternative to TaxCut or Turbotax. Both these softwares are costlier than TaxAct. However don’t yet rule out the power of TaxAct 2008-2009 .

While it may lack some of the features  of the premium services, at $12.95 (including a free e-file; state is $13.95). In our Opinion, Tax Act 2008 provides much needed Tax services at affordable cost. Lets look at closely how Tax Act works in relation to filing a Income Tax for 2008- 2009.

Tax Act 2008 has multiple version, a FREE version of the Tax Act is available as well. The Free option however doesn’t give you a state filing option and several more features. We believe Tax Act 2008 edition is more suitable for Individuals and Businesses. It really is cheaper at $12.95.

Lets Quickly look at the TaxAct 2009 Features:

1) Unlimited Federal tax returns, 1 free Federal Efile, Efile up to 5 Federal Returns

2)  Donation Assistant provides certified values for nearly 700 commonly-donated items. This is a cool feature and comes in handy while deductions are calculated for rebates.

3)  Maximum Refund Pledge guarantees you’ll get your largest refund, or we’ll pay for your software. A new feature included in Tax Act 2008 Deluxe edition.

4)  Unlimited Support via phone or email at no additional cost. You can call them email them. Remember during Tax Season, Tax software companies work extremely hard so getting a quick reply shouldn’t be too hard.

5)  FAFSA Worksheet simplifies completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

TaxAct 2008 2009 Deluxe Edition Review

There’s a new customer import report, and overview screens for income, deductions, and credits. The average tax filer will probably want more help, but if you can work your way through the 1040 and assorted forms and schedules without the additional help and more comprehensible language that competitors employ, this is the app for you.

Start-up is simple, and is similar to the process employed by TurboTax and TaxCut, though you can import W-2 information directly only if your payroll is handled by Paylocity or TALX W-2 eXpress.

Another good feature is if you had used Tax Act 2007, you can import your last year data into Tax Act 2008, which makes it lot easier and cuts down

TaxAct comes with TaxAct examiner feature which examines you completed e-file and helps you identify any errors or things you might have missed. This is one heck of a great feature coz almost everyone one of us makes mistakes and do you want to do a wrong E-file ? Never. This feature will ensure you file taxes properly and get the rebates you entitled for.

We suggest if you are looking for a simple and cheap Tax preparation and Tax efile service then nothing beats Tax Act 2008.

You may Order Tax Act 2008 Deluxe Edition from Amazon which is at discounted price of $12.95 only. (ships same day)