Childcare Vouchers: cut childcare costs by £1,000/year Discussion Area

rpc

The two are completely unrelated.

kloe_2

Hi I wondered if someone could help us out I'm not sure how the Childcare vouchers work.
We are in a couple, both work, and have a 1 yr old child, don't qualify for tax credits. How do the vouchers work? We both work for companies which can offer vouchers so can we both claim them? How do we make double savings? We are hoping to send child to nursery which will be £72 per week. So do we just claim vouchers each for half the cost per week? So each get £36 per week/ £144 per month? Totally confused! Thanks.

hocney68

I am married and have a 3 yr old. I can't see anything in the information available about whether one person can claim the Childcare Vouchers and the other can pay in to the new scheme from September 2015 ? TIA

wendz86

Kloe - yes that would work if you get £144 each a month (max is £243 each), although most months are more than 4 weeks so might be slightly more. You would have to speak to your company and they would take that amount from your salary before you get taxed so you would be taxed less in total.

rpc

hocney68 wrote: »

I am married and have a 3 yr old. I can't see anything in the information available about whether one person can claim the Childcare Vouchers and the other can pay in to the new scheme from September 2015 ? TIA

It's only been mentioned in passing, but because you are assessed as a family under the new scheme you would both need to opt out of childcare vouchers. It isn't one parent that claims the tax relief under the new scheme (in a two parent household). Both parents must work, both parents must earn under £150k, etc etc.

One other big hitter is that you cannot use the new scheme if you receive tax credits. Either of you.

You will either be better off under the old scheme or the new one. I suppose the scenario you describe could arise if the old scheme was better but only offered by one employer.

turtlemoose

rpc wrote: »

£243 per month or £55 per week. Each month/week is treated seperately, there is no cumulative allowance.

This is not correct. It depends entirely on your voucher provider and your employer.

Computershare allow you to sacrifice more than the £243 per month as long as you don't go over the limit for the tax year, and were eligible during the time you are clawing back.

They did this last financial year (I contacted them with this question in March 2014 and was too late to do anything about it), and they've sent out emails to customers urging them to check their unused allowance before the end of this tax year.

rpc

turtlemoose wrote: »

This is not correct. It depends entirely on your voucher provider and your employer.

Computershare allow you to sacrifice more than the £243 per month as long as you don't go over the limit for the tax year, and were eligible during the time you are clawing back.

EIM22011 says that this is not correct and the exemption only exists for a tax week/month in which a voucher was received.

Further, NI is always non-cumulative so in almost any circumstance you can't claim back NI that was paid in a previous period.

Computershare certainly haven't sent me any emails about this...

turtlemoose

Well they emailed me about it.

If you login to your online account, under the "My vouchers" menu, you will have "voucher allowance".

It has the following header on this page:

"Non Taxable Voucher Value Used: This is the total tax free Voucher Value awarded this year.

Non Taxable Voucher Value Available: This is the total tax free voucher value currently available to you this year (scheme policy allowing)."


So for example my OH who started a new job recently so has yet to receive any vouchers, his says:


Non taxable voucher value used / Non taxable voucher value available

£0.00 / £2,430.00

turtlemoose

http://www.computersharevoucherservices.com/parents/frequently-asked-questions/Pages/how-the-scheme-works.aspx


8. My child was born in April but I didn’t join the childcare voucher scheme until I returned to work in November. Can I receive childcare vouchers for the months I have missed in the current tax year?

If you join a voucher scheme part way through a tax year, you can receive the full annual exempt value of vouchers over a reduced period of time if:
you haven’t already taken your full entitlement in that tax year;
your child was born in the months you’re claiming;
you were employed at that time by your current employer;
your employer was running a scheme at that time;
your employer allows it; and
the amount specified does not drop you below the national minimum wage threshold.
You can do this by contacting us.

turtlemoose

Email from them on 5th Feb:

Have you been making the most of childcare vouchers?
Did you know you have an allowance for the amount of childcare vouchers you can order each tax year?

If you haven't been ordering your full allowance, you have until the end of this tax year to catch up.

You can use your online account to see whether you have any outstanding allowance available to order - just follow these three simple steps:

1) Log in to your online account, click on the ‘My Vouchers’ tab and select ‘Voucher Allowance’.

2) Under the ‘Current Tax Year’ section, you can view your ‘Non-taxable voucher value available’ – these are the missed vouchers you are entitled to for the current tax year to date


3) Once you know how much you have available, you need to contact your Payroll/HR department. Simply ask to order the vouchers you’ve missed through deductions from your salary.

Make sure you catch up by 5 April

You don't need to catch up on your missed vouchers in a single lump sum. You can spread it out over a number of payments, as long as it’s completed before the end of the current tax year (5 April 2015).

As you’d expect with anything tax-related, there are a few conditions to check out. You can find these at the bottom of this email.

Log in to your account now to check your allowance.

*Claiming your maximum tax-free voucher allowance is dependent on four conditions:
1) That your employer allows you to order vouchers you’ve missed.
2) That your employer offered the childcare voucher scheme for the period you would be claiming for.
3) That you have an eligible child for the period you would be claiming for.
4) That any additional voucher orders do not take your salary below national minimum wage.