Tax Free Childcare - Overpay

userSaver1274

Hi I tried a good scroll through the existing forum's but cant find exactly the information I'm after.

So we have a Tax Free Childcare account and we are paying in enough to just come under the £500 per quarter limit (at about £450).

We have a second child on the way in December and plan to keep the first child in childcare and my wife is planning to take a year on maternity. We had the idea of intentionally overpaying into the account to get the maximum £500 back each quarter. Three questions:

1. With a second child at the same childcare centre, is it the same pot of money or two seperate accounts?
2. If I end up after a few years withdrawing money that I gained through the scheme will I get chased for repayments?
3. In my head I will benefit in the long run as when we have two kids in childcare ill be well over the £500 limit and I'm better overpaying now to get as much as I can. Anyone else done this or see any flaw in the logic?

Thanks for any help.

sheramber

You have a separate account for each child.

The £500 is per child.

You can withdraw money but the government payment will be clawed back and not paid out.  

https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare