Childcare costs forcing us into debt.

MissMoneypenny

SuziQ wrote: »

Childminders now pay tax like everyone else,

From reading a previous thread on this board, there seems to be quite a lot of tax dodges for them too. This means they pay less tax and also claim income based welfare payments like working tax credits too.

mildred1978

hanes wrote: »

i understand your point, but the childcare place we have we fought very hard for, its the best available and our 10 month is coming on leaps and bounds, while money cant buy this sort of benefits i cant help but feel we are being squeezed every which way. but changing childcare is not an option for us.

I find it hard to believe you work as hard as you can for a better life and the goverment would rather see you on JSA. but i guess what they reap in 20% VAT and 40% tax it would not make a dent.

there is the benefit of once she is older it will pay off. but i didnt believe there were many in the same posistion as us.

after reading your post however i see it is the case.

just at the moment we cant see the light at the end.
very glad we dont have too much debt to deal with.

Erm, on £14k and £18k you don't pay anything like 40% tax. With 2 tax allowances you're paying £3,400 per year in income tax as a household.

That's £283 per month - you're getting £356 back from the Government towards childcare. On top of that you have child benefit, WTC and free healthcare. Doesn't seem too bad a deal to me.

melly1980

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

From reading a previous thread on this board, there seems to be quite a lot of tax dodges for them too. This means they pay less tax and also claim income based welfare payments like working tax credits too.

there are no tax doges at all. You take off your legitimate costs.

As for tax credits they get what they should get based on their income.

The problem here is that in general people are too stupid to realise that if a childminder has an income of 200 per week they arent earning 200 per week because they are spending money feeding and entertaining that child. To call it a dodge shows a serious lack of knowledge of the subject

Metranil_Vavin

sandraroffey wrote: »

maybe the answer to your child care costs problems, is to become a child minder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they seem to be earning the most out of anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ha! The thought had crossed my mind on occasion!

In reality though I find looking after my own child challenging enough, I don't think I'm the sort of person who could handle looking after other peoples too!

MissMoneypenny

melly1980 wrote: »

there are no tax doges at all. You take off your legitimate costs.

As for tax credits they get what they should get based on their income.

The problem here is that in general people are too stupid to realise that if a childminder has an income of 200 per week they arent earning 200 per week because they are spending money feeding and entertaining that child. To call it a dodge shows a serious lack of knowledge of the subject

The thread I mentioned was about how Universal Credits might/will(?) change the rules so that a claim is based on at least the minimum wage per hour: instead on people claiming they earn virtually £0 in their work, so that they can receive higher income related welfare payments. So yes, I do recall how angry you were about this as it affected your claim for your 4 children as your wife is a childminder?

melly1980

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

The thread I mentioned was about how Universal Credits might/will(?) change the rules so that a claim is based on at least the minimum wage per hour: instead on people claiming they earn virtually £0 in their work, so that they can receive higher income related welfare payments. So yes, I do recall how angry you were about this as it affected your claim for your 4 children as your wife is a childminder?

the point is you describe it as a fiddle. It isnt a fiddle.

A doctor or nurse going to work wouldnt expect to have to pay out of their pocket for the equipment and drugs that they administer and they certainly wouldnt expect to be taxed on that money if they did.

I remember that thread well and there were plenty of brain donors on it suggesting that because SOME people set up dodgey E-Bay businesses to get their hours up then ALL self employed people are "at it".

puddy

but if you calculate the number of hours a child minder works, they dont earn as much as minimum wage for each child they care for

MissMoneypenny

puddy wrote: »

but if you calculate the number of hours a child minder works, they dont earn as much as minimum wage for each child they care for

The plan is for at least minimum wage for each hour a SE person works, for income based welfare claim purposes.

puddy

but if the child minder is only caring for one child, that wouldnt meet minimum wage i think? im not even sure on the figures for how many hours, i suppose its about 8 hours a day? if so, she would need to charge 200 a week

Sixer

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

The plan is for at least minimum wage for each hour a SE person works, for income based welfare claim purposes.

MissMP - even under the proposed UC environment, it's unlikely childminders would be affected. They're already under special rules with HMRC as it is. This is because it's accepted that most childminders work in conjunction with not working - ie being paid to care for someone else's child whilst simultaneously caring for your own, as we eventually established on Melly's highly contentious thread. I very much doubt the existing special rules would not continue to apply.

Puddy: childcare costs vary, but for a rule of thumb, say £3.50 per hour per child. If Childminder A takes in one child so she can earn something whilst caring for her own two children, she won't earn NMW. But if Childminder B takes in three children because hers have all flown the nest, she will earn NMW. This is why the special rules with HMRC apply.