Tax credits and childcare vouchers (salary sacrifice)

1981trouble

Hi,

I am in a position where I am entitled to tax credits and the childcare elements for the first time (reduced income). However have always used salary sacrifice before now to pay for childcare. As a newby to claiming tax credits and having heard so many scare stories I really want to get it right and avoid any repayments/stops/fines etc.

I have done the hmrc calculator and it says I am better off still claiming vouchers and then, if I have understood correctly, claiming the difference on my tax credits claim. So, my childcare costs will be 400 per month, and 243 is covered with salary sacrifice, so I claim 157 a month as the "cost" for tax credits. Is this correct so far?

Here is where it gets complicated, I am on maternity leave and have saved up a lump sum in the vouchers. This is enough to cover the full payments until December. In January, my childcare costs will increase to 600per month (using up annual leave and owed time until December so not working my full hours).
Can I keep this lump sum back to cover the increase in January-April thus making my tax credits reported amount of 157 to be the same all through the tax year?
Or do I need to use up the lump sum and not claim any childcare costs until December and then update my claim in January to be 357 a month.

(Before Anyone gets in a tiz, these numbers are not exact currently and I have just used a simplistic set for this query - I know the sums don't add up for the above example but they would be exact before I claim anything, I am a bit ott at organizing things like this so there is a spreadsheet detailing it exactly!)

Darksparkle

You cannot claim the help through tax credits until you actually start to pay the childcare provider out with the vouchers.