Fees charges by Childcare Voucher scheme providers

[Lance]

Do I need to go via a voucher scheme

My daughter's nursery fees are well over the threshold of £243. In fact if both me and my wife (full time employed elsewhere) take the full £243 each there is still an outstanding balance.

As a new contractor, yet to start first contract but in the process of setting everything up, my question is whether I need to use a voucher process at all?

Can I just pay £243 direct from my company bank account every month and top-up the rest out of my personal money?

Lance.

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

My daughter's nursery fees are well over the threshold of £243. In fact if both me and my wife (full time employed elsewhere) take the full £243 each there is still an outstanding balance.

As a new contractor, yet to start first contract but in the process of setting everything up, my question is whether I need to use a voucher process at all?

Can I just pay £243 direct from my company bank account every month and top-up the rest out of my personal money?

Lance.

There is no need to use a voucher scheme - you can simply set up an agreement between the childcare provider and your company for part of the fee (£243) to be paid by the company.

You need to ensure that a copy of the agreement is retained for the company's records in case of an enquiry by HMRC.

Hope this helps!
Craig

[Lance]

Perfect. Thanks Craig.

[Clare@InTouch]

Just to add to what Craig rightly said - if your child is too young for nursery then you may want to consider buying vouchers as you can save them and use them at a later date. You'll incur an admin fee from the voucher provider, but it will enable you to save the vouchers for later.

[7of9]

different amount

There is no need to use a voucher scheme - you can simply set up an agreement between the childcare provider and your company for part of the fee (£243) to be paid by the company.

You need to ensure that a copy of the agreement is retained for the company's records in case of an enquiry by HMRC.

Hope this helps!
Craig

Hi Graig,

My account manager said mine is 55 pounds per week so roughly 238 pounds per month. I take 7680£ salary, is that the reason why my limit is slightly lower.

Thanks!

[eek]

Hi Graig,

My account manager said mine is 55 pounds per week so roughly 238 pounds per month. I take 7680£ salary, is that the reason why my limit is slightly lower.

Thanks!

Um because HMRC says its upto £55 a week or £243 a month see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/ir115.pdf

and the HMRC logic is based on the possibility of there being a 53 week payment year rather than 52 weeks...

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

Hi Graig,

My account manager said mine is 55 pounds per week so roughly 238 pounds per month. I take 7680£ salary, is that the reason why my limit is slightly lower.

Thanks!

The legislation (see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/ir115.pdf) says £55 per week or £243 per month. The £55 per week x 52 weeks / 12 months is £238.33 so I assume that is where this has come from.

If you are claiming the childcare monthly then you can have £243 per month.

The above assumes that you are a basic rate tax payer based on your salary, if you have a higher salary and entered the childcare scheme after 06/04/2011 then the amount will be lower.

Craig

[7of9]

Thank you very much, eek and Graig. £243 it is. I am going to write an agreement for my childminder and I to sign. Is there any thing else I or my accountant need to do?

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

Thank you very much, eek and Graig. £243 it is. I am going to write an agreement for my childminder and I to sign. Is there any thing else I or my accountant need to do?

Set up the payment of £243 to come from the company each month and give a copy of the agreement to your accountant for their records.

Aside from that it sounds like you're set!

Craig

[7of9]

Set up the payment of £243 to come from the company each month and give a copy of the agreement to your accountant for their records.

Aside from that it sounds like you're set!

Craig

Thanks Craig. I wish my account manager can response this fast.