Tier 1 (general) - previous earnings - evidence

I am planning on applying for Tier 1 (general) in September 2010 or thereabouts. I am planning on doing a full-time masters degree from September '09 to September '10 and claiming my earnings from September '08 to September '09. As far as I can tell, I will have exactly 75 points by the time I apply. But there are a few things I need clarification on...

1. Bank statements

I know you can use bank statements as evidence of earnings. However, being a regular employee my bank statements will obviously only show my take-home earnings. If, for example, my gross income was 20,000 pounds and my take-home income (the amount my bank statements will show) is around 15,000 pounds, will my bank statements count as evidence that I earned the former amount? Obviously they will be accompanied with payslips and/or a letter from my employer showing my gross income. But will it be okay to have bank statements as one of my two pieces of evidence?


2. Do the previous earnings bands increase every year? If so, is there any way to find out how much they will increase by? As I said, I plan on claiming my earnings from '08-'09 but I won't by applying until '10, so I'm worried that the amount I need to have earned will change by then...

As long as the net in the bank matches the net on the payslips you are okay.

The bands don't increase every year, but they might go up or down in the future.  Who knows with this government!

Vicky

Thanks a lot.

Have they gone up in recent years (say during the HSMP --> Tier 1 changeover), that you know of?

Not that I recall.

Vicky

If there are a couple of payslips that do not lead to Net payment into the Bank account but count towards tax calculation and for the YTD Gross earnings, is it better to omit these payslips and their corresponding gross earnings from the figure claimed as earnings? (coz evidence 1 -Bank statements will not tally with evidence 2- Payslips). Or is it better to leave them all and explain what they are (Medicare taxes, other book keeping adj) ?

Don't mind either way but prefer one that will create less confusion.

Anybody come across such an instance

P.S- One problem with omitting such payslips is that if one excludes them, the YTD Net pay figure does not tally with one mentioned on the last payslip. Include them and it matches with it, but then doesn't match net payments into Bank statements as company made these payments on behalf of employee n counted them as pay.  Complex huh?