OP
OP
Andrew_Culture
Internet Marketing bod
- Location
- The People's Republic Of Suffolk.
I wish I knew, tax got very confusing when I stopped being self employed.
Childcare vouchers
- Thread starter Andrew_Culture
- Start date
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I wish I knew, tax got very confusing when I stopped being self employed.
Arjimlad
Tights of Cydonia
- Location
- South Glos
Your wife's accountant should be able to help/advise. Plenty of self-employed folks qualify for WFTC.
OP
OP
Andrew_Culture
Internet Marketing bod
- Location
- The People's Republic Of Suffolk.
Thanks, unfortunately she's just dropped her accountant because she doesn't earn anywhere near enough to have to pay tax!
It may be in your favour that your wife earns below the tax threshold when it comes to tax credits - do you claim those already?
There is a calculator at http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx which is fairly reliable.
Childcare costs vary wildly, depending where you live.
Round here it's around £4 an hour for pre-school care.
Sometimes with the tax credits they say you're not entitled to the childcare portion, but they do allow for your childcare expense when they work out your entitlement to child tax credits. I currently get a little bit more than if I wasn't paying for after school club for two of mine even though according to my award I don't get anything towards their childcare.
There is a calculator at http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx which is fairly reliable.
Childcare costs vary wildly, depending where you live.
Round here it's around £4 an hour for pre-school care.
Sometimes with the tax credits they say you're not entitled to the childcare portion, but they do allow for your childcare expense when they work out your entitlement to child tax credits. I currently get a little bit more than if I wasn't paying for after school club for two of mine even though according to my award I don't get anything towards their childcare.
OP
OP
Andrew_Culture
Internet Marketing bod
- Location
- The People's Republic Of Suffolk.
Thanks, I hope I'm not the only person flummoxed by benefits!
paddy01
Senior Member
- Location
- Exmouth (Devon)
Basically it's a toss up (depending on personal circumstances) whether you're better off with tax credits or using the childcare voucher scheme. Earnings, hours worked per week, childcare costs, number of kids etc.
I work full time, wife works 4 days a week plus every other half Saturday. Due to earnings there's no tax credits for us so we both make full use of the childcare voucher scheme (currently about £200 per month each deducted before tax/NI IIRC. As basic rate tax payers this saves us around £900 a year. My place already had arrangements in place (with Care4), other halfs did not. They sub out their payroll who simply deduct the necessary from her gross wages and send the nursery that the boy goes to a cheque each month.
We pay just under £600 per month for 3 days a week for our 11 month old, which is 8am to 5.30pm, includes all meals etc. We supply only nappies and 2 formula bottles per day, all meals etc. are included.. Wife takes 1 day and his maternal grand parents another.
It does get cheaper as they get older due to them needing fewer carers per number of sprogs as they get older. When they get to 3, the government (currently) kicks in 15 hours a week usually towards a pre-school placement.
Happy to continue by PM if you've got any questions etc.
I work full time, wife works 4 days a week plus every other half Saturday. Due to earnings there's no tax credits for us so we both make full use of the childcare voucher scheme (currently about £200 per month each deducted before tax/NI IIRC. As basic rate tax payers this saves us around £900 a year. My place already had arrangements in place (with Care4), other halfs did not. They sub out their payroll who simply deduct the necessary from her gross wages and send the nursery that the boy goes to a cheque each month.
We pay just under £600 per month for 3 days a week for our 11 month old, which is 8am to 5.30pm, includes all meals etc. We supply only nappies and 2 formula bottles per day, all meals etc. are included.. Wife takes 1 day and his maternal grand parents another.
It does get cheaper as they get older due to them needing fewer carers per number of sprogs as they get older. When they get to 3, the government (currently) kicks in 15 hours a week usually towards a pre-school placement.
Happy to continue by PM if you've got any questions etc.
OP
OP
Andrew_Culture
Internet Marketing bod
- Location
- The People's Republic Of Suffolk.
Thanks you for this. I've talked this over with my wife and because the maximum you're allowed to earn as a family to qualify for child tax credits has been halved from £50k to £25k we now don't qualify.
It's looking very much like if we want childcare so my wife can get some gardening hours in for her clients I'll have to start delivering pizzas. Yum.
OP
OP
Andrew_Culture
Internet Marketing bod
- Location
- The People's Republic Of Suffolk.
We'll look into it again, I'm remembering (from my time on the dole) that claiming benefits is as much work as having an extra job!
I looked at it a couple of years ago as I read that you can have household income up to £60,000 and qualify. Needless to say we didn't...