Can I employ my wife?

sroughley

I am full time employed and my wife is a full time student. We have two kids in childcare and so that we do not miss out on the tax free childcare this yeay I would like to know if it would be possible for me to employ my wife for minor admin work so that she can be classed as working. We do not qualify for any kind of financial support for childcare (i.e. grant or credits). I am on PAYE so could not easily operate as an employer through self employment. However I was thinking that if I had a full time nanny then I would be employing them so can the same apply to my wife?


Thanks,


Stephen

KARO

Maybe post this over on the employment board. You might get more people with knowledge of employment law, etc over there.

InsideInsurance

What would the income generation for the "business" be?

Unless you actually start a business and she is employed inline with that business and paid an appropriate wage for what she does then there is nothing to pay her from.

What are you actually trying to achieve though? If its simply to get her "working" status then she can simply register herself as self employed.

Pricivius

It's not clear to me what you're asking.

- Are you suggesting you employ your wife to do household admin, such as filing bills and paying the windowcleaner? In which case, no, you can't.

- Are you suggesting you employ your wife to do admin which you are supposed to do for your job? As if you are sub-contracting? My understanding is you would need to register as an employer with HMRC, but a call to them will clear this up.

- Are you suggesting you employ your wife to look after your children? No, you can't. I don't know the exact rule on this, but I am pretty sure you cannot pay childcare vouchers to someone who is not registered as a childcare provider, and it may well be the case that you also cannot pay them to a close family member, but I am not as sure about this.

What is it you are trying to do?

onlyroz

If you were self employed then I think you could "employ" your wife to help with things like accounts and book-keeping etc. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to do this if you're in a regular job.

Is your wife eligible for the childcare grant?

https://www.gov.uk/childcare-grant/overview

fivetide

Pricivius wrote: »

- Are you suggesting you employ your wife to do household admin, such as filing bills and paying the windowcleaner? In which case, no, you can't.
?

I dunno. Don't most MPs employ their wife/a.n. other family member to do 'admin' ?

sroughley

fivetide wrote: »

I dunno. Don't most MPs employ their wife/a.n. other family member to do 'admin' ?

Yeah, that's kind of the lines I was thinking along.

purpleshoes_2

I dont see any reason why someone who is self employed couldn't employ a member of their family, no law against it, plenty of family businesses out there.

antrobus

sroughley wrote: »

I am full time employed and my wife is a full time student. We have two kids in childcare and so that we do not miss out on the tax free childcare this yeay I would like to know if it would be possible for me to employ my wife for minor admin work so that she can be classed as working. We do not qualify for any kind of financial support for childcare (i.e. grant or credits). I am on PAYE so could not easily operate as an employer through self employment.

However I was thinking that if I had a full time nanny then I would be employing them so can the same apply to my wife?

Thanks,

Stephen

You can certainly employ your wife to carry out whatever duties you specify, but there is no way for you to claim tax relief on the cost of said employment, which is I believe the question you are really asking.

purpleshoes wrote: »

I dont see any reason why someone who is self employed couldn't employ a member of their family, no law against it, plenty of family businesses out there.

That is absolutely true. There are plenty of self-employed people who employ their spouses to work in their business. Unfortunately the OP is "full time employed", and has no business, so that does not apply.

InsideInsurance

purpleshoes wrote: »

I dont see any reason why someone who is self employed couldn't employ a member of their family, no law against it, plenty of family businesses out there.

They can, as long as the pay is proportional to the work. If you employ you wife to do 1hrs work of admin a week you'd most likely get into trouble with HMRC if you paid her £10k for it as this would clearly be a tax dodge.

The issue here is the OP isnt running a business and so there is no business to employ her.

MPs I suspect are a more complex thing and have to admit I dont fully know how their setups are exactly as the payments made to their staff is claimed back from Parliament as business expenses. Presumably again the OPs employers arent intending to reimburse any payments to the wife.

LilElvis

sroughley wrote: »

Yeah, that's kind of the lines I was thinking along.

MPs are totally different from your situation. The costs of running their office, including staff salaries, are reimbursed to them.

Your idea of "employing" your wife as a nanny isn't going to work - it would cost you money as you would have to pay over the tax and national insurance you have deducted (plus employers national insurance) to HMRC. If it was tax efficient then thousands of families where the mother doesn't work would be going down this route.

If you are a basic rate taxpayer, and your wife has no taxable income, then she can transfer a portion of her unutilised tax allowance to you. I believe it starts in the coming tax year. Sorry, I don't have the link to hand as I binned it when I found I'm not eligible.