Anyone self employed and claim back some of their child care through tax credits??

[Nicky1306]

Hello,

I hope I have posted this in the right place, I'm quite new here, applogies if I haven't!!

Do any of you self employed ladies claim back some of your childcare through tax credits? Reason why I'm being so nosey is becuase there is a room to let in a sunbed shop near me avaliable which I want to rent, I have called the nursey which is next door to the shop and they charge £900.00 per month!! I know I can claim tax credits and depending on how much I'm earning can claim some of my childcare back, my question is how do I tell Child tax credits how much I'm earning for them to calculate my allowence if I have no Idea what my earnings will be until I have started??

Wow!! What a long post, sorry for the essay!
Any help Much Appriciated, thanks
Nicky.

 

[time-to-relax]

funny enough i did this last friday

they took a provisional figure off me till my accounts where setup this figure can be nil for the first year

they will pay upto 80% of child care however i don't know the celing limit for the do what i did call them and ask for a hypothetical figure to be calculated they will no probs

 

[Blue Rose]

It may also be worth seeing if you're entitled to Working Tax Credit as well. With this they look at your profit for the year (again if not much/nil all the better). If you work more than 30 hours, which doesn't have to be hands on - it can entail banking, paperwork etc.....you get an allowance for that as well.

Since I became a single parent a few months ago, I was very (pleasantly )surprised at how much you can actually claim for.

 

[Blue Rose]

Forgot to say - £900 per month seems an awful lot of money to pay out . But then again if up to 80% is paid that makes it easier

 

[loubylou]

Tell them you expect to be earning zero until you have built up the business, they will accept this and it is probably going to be true hth

 

[Missy G]

Please go careful with these guys though, they may pay you the money out this year, when it comes to year 2009 April, they will ask how much you earned, and they may of overpaid you, and you might..I say might have to pay a load back.Theres been stories on here before, and its happened to me.:irked:

I enquired about 3 years ago for help with child care , they asked what Iearnt the year before, and were going to pay me according to what I was entitled to for that years earnings. I didnt bother though as I new the following year my hours were going to go up , and I wouldnt be entitled to so much, so with less coming in I wouldnt been able to afford the nursery fees.I was employed then through a company btw.

Just be warned, hope this makes sense.

 

[Nicky1306]

Yes you can get up to 80% back BUT with my partners earnings as well, we will hardly get anything paid for! I suppose every little helps!
Debbie my worries are exactly as you said!! this is why we don't bother claiming any tax credits now, my partners overtime vairies and they can only estimate at what we can claim based on his basic if we can't tell them exact figures including overtime-which we can't as it's never a set amount! let alone not knowing the whole of my salary!! I dread to think how much we could end up owing them! EEEK!!

 

[Cathie!]

Tax credits are all income based so provided you inform them of changes in income as they occur and changes in childcare expenses as they occur, you shouldn't be in for a shock at the end of the year.

£700-£900 per month sounds about right for full time nursery care for one child depending on area.....we have the highest childcare costs in Europe....does make you wonder why many women don't return to work!

 

[fairiegirl]

I looked into this but am employed now, and yes its hard to get your money back off them. My sister is a wedding and party planner so her work is very demanding. And works 70 80 hours a week maybe more. So her childcare is through the roof. But it took her nearly 6 weeks to get them to pay for childcare and she seems to have this problem all the time. Claiming it all back. I get my ear chewed off every time they **** up and it drives me nuts. So just be careful that they don't mess you about. And how did child care go through roof. I used to be one of those latch key kids when i was 11. Cause no childcare then. 80's But even now no child care costs can be claimed for children over 11. So if i had have gone self employed i would have 3 in child care and one at home having party's.

 

[*Garfield*]

Don't forget as weel with tax credits that if you make a loss in any year it is offset from any other earnings your housedhold has.....so if my husband has earnt £10,000 this year, but I have made a loss of £2000, THEY ONLY COUNT £8000 of his earnings when calculating your tax credits at the end of the year.......And the ammount in which your income will effect your award from year to year has now changed, it used to be £2500 so lots of people were being overpaid, it is now £25,000....

 

[lola67]

I claimed both working tax and child tax credit when I started out self employed. I just had to supply them with a ball park figure of my earnings, which I actually said was zero, by the time I'd paid rent, petrol, products etc.
Just be very careful of changes in your circumstances I have recently had a bill from them going back to 2003 for about £700 worth of overpayments. I am disputing it though as I was always very hot on informing them of changes etc...... The problem, as someone has already said, is that they base their figures on the previous year. Then recalculate at the end of this tax year and depending on your earnings you may get a hefty bill.....
In my opinion it's not a very good system, my bill has occured as I had too many changes in circumstances in that particular year, as they politely informed me!! I politely informed them that it is part of their job to keep on top of my changes!!
Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant didn't it , good luck with your new venture.
Linds xx