Deal of the week

If you are in the market for a new prepay phone, check out O2's offer for January. The company is giving away €10m worth of credit in the first six months of the year. New prepay customers or existing O2 customers who upgrade will earn €20 in free credit monthly until June if they top up their credit by €10 each month. To sweeten the deal, the company will also give away two free cinema tickets each month.

Tip of the week

If you are planning on visiting Australia soon, Air Asia flies to Kuala Lumpur from London Stansted from just €286 and you can fly on to Australia from there for as little as €65 (Perth). That's a one-way flight to Australia for €351 including taxes and charges. Even adding in a Ryanair flight to London, you're still making a massive saving.

Bad Value of the week

A reader found herself the victim of ill-informed staff at Smyths Tallaght branch when returning a faulty toy purchased for €40 some weeks before Christmas. Despite the fact that she was entitled to a full refund, replacement or repair (the latter two options were ruled out), the Smyths' staff member insisted, despite being told to the contrary, that because the 30-day money back guarantee had passed, the most our reader was entitled to was a credit note. Wholly unacceptable – the very least stores should do is make sure that staff are aware of basic consumer rights.

Tax credits and bands

Personal tax credit: €1,650

PAYE tax credit: €1,650

Tax rate bands

Single: €32,800 (after this you pay the marginal rate)

Married One Income:€41,800

Married Two Incomes: €65,600

You can get your tax credit cert by texting your PPS number and the word 'Cert' to 51829,