Child tax credit review

[Hg89]

Hi I’m just looking for advice re a child tax credit letter I received. It says I will have a telephone interview to check my childcare payments are still correct. I pay my breakfast and afterschool clubs using PayPal for the sports club and the rest is in cash to the community centre. Is the telephone call just for verbal clarification? Otherwise I do t have receipts or records expect for my own calendar of the payments I’ve made to the community centre. I’m scared the tax credit are just going to shoot me down and request proof via bank statements. All I have is the sports club payments to a friends and family account. The rest is paid using maintenance from my ex as he prefers to give me cash rather than bank transfer. The tax credit are asking for information from April last year to July this year. Stressed out! Any advice or reassurance much appreciated. TIA x

You should always ask for and receive a receipt - even for cash payments. How else can the benefits people reimburse you for your costs?? The recipient is dodo acting dodgily in my view for not acknowledging payment by way of a receipt (although their relationship with the tax man is not your concern).

you should do whatever TC ask you to do and provide whatever evidence you can. And get receipts from here on in!

Some years ago I had to provide proof of childcare costs. Like you I paid in cash from maintenance from my ex. My son's childminder wrote a letter on headed paper stating what I paid monthly and how long I'd been paying it for. She said she'd done that for quite a few parents before. So, if necessary your childcare provider could surely do the same?

There was no telephone interview though when that happened, they just wrote asking for written proof of costs, so it sounds a bit different to your situation.

Is this properly registered childcare. DDs dance school was registered with OFSTED so I was able to use them as childcare and had to provide their OFSTED number. I don't think you can use just any provider and you should have receipts

You have to give an ofsted number to get tax credit childcare paid for