Rates of Pay - central London nanny - please help!

although to be fair micrathena, I think the childcare vouchers were introduced by this govt. Before that there was sod all.

Sorry, OP. This is way off your topic and onto personal rants

I agree withyou Margo. It is really unfair that the self employed are not allowed the same tax breaks as employees.

I can't quite work out why I can't deduct the cost of the nanny before I am taxed on my income.

I guess he wants everyone but the really poor and really wealthy to have babies. That will make for an interesting demographic in fifty years.

I know. And I was just saying even if it is your business to get out of the house and stay out because it drives you to despair to be at home with your beloved children or because you have to earn a crust, it still makes no difference. You pay tax twice. Employed, self-employed, whoever.

Oh unless you are a non dom and then you don't even pay it once but then you'd employ an illegal immigrant on slave wages anyway so the tax wouldn't matter

my pursuit of income is a business in itself - I am classed as self-employed. And I STILL can't claim my nanny as a taxable expense (nor can I benefit from the vouchers although I do, of course, pay income tax).

Yes, but then how can they justify taxing me like one????

Incidentally, I think we are debating what we feel should be and not what the law today actually says.

I als think people named Gordon should have to pay a minimum of 75% income tax.

I'm pretty sure my childcare arrangements are whollly exlusively and necessarily in persuit of my income.

I don't in the least have a problem in paying for my nanny but I do have a problem with the way it is organised, tax-wise.

I work in investment and the chauffeurs our clients have are certainly not "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" in pursuit of business duties. Not sure when a chauffeur would ever be necessary, tbh, when taxis exist.

She's only here for 6 months. I really can't be bothered.

If nanny showed up already approved, I'd probably do it. But it's really not worth all the hoops we'd have to jump through for 6 1/2 month fixed term contract. I can only spend so many hours in my life managing the nanny who was actually hired to reduce my workload on the homefront.

Okay, you get an extra £1000 at the end of the year. But, it's only worth so much effort.

Gawd I sound lazy... maybe that's the problem?

Oi, Jura, my love. Current nanny is leaving in September. She'll be gone before she could get approved.

Not to mention who would look after my kids while she jumping through hoops to get approved.

To be honest, I think I save far more by hiring from abroad than I would in faffing round with vouchers so Gordon can CLAIM he helped me -- when in fact he does anything but. Oh speaking of whom, must go check bbc for budget report....

micrathena is right. A chauffeur can be identified as a business expense. A nanny cannot.

I think for a nanny in central london £500 isn't uncommon. Shocking but true. I got £450 three years ago. God did I work for it though!

You can write a chauffeur off as a business expensive (presumably if you own your own business??). But if you employ childcare for the sole purpse of going to work, that is not tax deductable. This is a rather famous exampleof the absurdity of the tax system when it comes to chikdcare. Gordon Brown is more interested in prfiting from working parents then he is inhelping them.

Yeah yeah I changed me name. You can all work out who I am by my undying love for wanker Brown.

Why aren't nannies ever self-employed? Just wondering if there's some legal reason?

I'd love to know too Nick, as until I moved abroad, I always had to explain to parents that yes they were responsible for my taxes and NI, and no I couldn't be self employed. So if a chauffeur, who provides a service to a private family, can be paid from pre-tax income, it seems weird that a nanny, who also provides a service to a private family is paid differently. Confusing and unfair to say the least.

margoandjerry - you wrote "It may interest you to know that if you employ a chauffeur, you can pay their salary out of pre tax income".
Yes, I'm very interested, do please tell more, plus if possible provide links to relevant legislation and/or specific documents on HMRC website. I'm interested because as far as I'm aware (and I'm always interested to learn new things), that a chauffeur is a domestic servant, so is the same as a nanny in that sense. Thus if a chauffeur is not a domestic servant, I am interested to find out what they are - and thus try to establish why a nanny is a domestic servant and a chauffeur is something different.

I think the key word was actually "lazy".

"fat lazy nanny"

Fat people deserve to be paid you know. Lazy people, maybe not, but fat does not equal useless

Its like paying anyone for anything as an employer isn't it?

We have a great nanny who I would willingly pay more, if we could afford it (in terms of bonuses etc). She works hard, the children love her and compared to the other nannies we've had in the past, is as rare as gold dust.

But I do regret the good pay I feel I wasted on the fat lazy nanny who neglected my newborn son and announced to me that she would "not cuddle him, just because he wanted that" (he was 2 wks old).

so, you win some,, you lose some.

(Our nanny is live out)

Also, for a single 5 month old, I do think their job is definitely cushier and more straightforward than racing around to the schedules of say a stroppy toddler and a needy infant. Should have plenty of infant napping time to do little household jobs, would definitely find out what else she is prepared to do to help out during these hours.....