To be pissed off at the new tax free childcare

[childcarechallenge]

NC for this.

We have two DC in childcare and live in London. I'm starting a new job next month and my salary is 48K, after tax, student loan, childcare costs and tube to work plus a few other generally working expenses (clothes etc) I've worked out that I will take home less than £200 a month.

DH earns a good salary which is good because we almost completely rely on his salary for rent, bills etc. He just received a large bonus which pushes him over 100K which is the new limit for the new tax free childcare scheme from the government.

Essentially, between 100K and 120K after tax, student loan, the loss of his "tax free allowance" which is clawed back over 100K, and the fact that we will not be able to claim £4000 back on our childcare because he is no longer under 100K (This applies to BOTH of us because of his salary) means that of that £20K we are actually only £1800 better off. AIBU to think that this is complete robbery - DH works extremely hard, very long hours (sometimes 70 hour weeks) in a high stress environment and the government seem to take an obscene amount of his salary.

We have an opportunity coming up to move to a lower tax country in a year or so with his job and this just makes me really want to take it, AIBU?

So half the childcare bill and count it as a joint expense.

Out of your £2942 take home monthly pay, how much would you earn then?

Are you taking clothes out of your take home to give us the £200 a month figure-why is that? How much do you spend on clothes??

DJKK its because I did the maths to work out if it was worth me going back to work or being a SAHM.

How on earth do you end up with £200 a month with a £48k salary? Do you fly your kids to childcare in the private jet ffs?

Sorry but if you can't manage on £148k I really have no words. For the record ALOT of people work VERY hard for their money. Including me. I juggle full time work and 4 kids on my single wage of £20000.

So yeah, we do without the private jet and most other stuff right now.

childcare assuming you're married, I'd consider a career break - we've walked this walk and it sounds like a recipe for burnout for all of you. Working from home's still working. I wonder if that's the issue too - overall you're working very, very hard as a family and presumably your DC will be in childcare 5 days a week and not with family? We've done exactly this except minus the commutes and it's been very tough going, but as i said it was more lucrative as my children are spaced more, if I was clearing £200 pm I'd be so tempted to take a few years out.

You're not going to get much sympathy I'm afraid, OP. Though I take your point about taxation.

Seriously?!
YABU. Massively.
Public sector services are being slashed, I've had a below inflation pay increase every year for thr last 5 years. NHS is underfunded, people have to rely on benefits to top up their salaries because companies dont pay enough for people to live on and you're complaining because you're not eligable for taxpayer help with take home pay of over £100,000.

Discussions about moving out of the xountry because of how awful it must be just tells me everything i need to know.
People with money playing the poor me card is how we get stupid policies like cuts to public services with a reduction in tax for the well off - they claim that unless they look aftet rich folk we're all doomed.

Sorry but if you honestly dont feel you can manage on that kind of money then look at your lifestyle. And then the mirror. You dont know what difficult is.

(I have an above average income but know to be grateful for my situation)

Childcare is 29000 a year. When I start working DC will be 11M and 3.

OP I don't think YABU, I know these things happen as it happened to one of my associates, I went out of my way to give him a big bonus, only to find out it was leaving him worse off than before. It's very unfortunate when this happens.

Do think about the expat lifestyle, it can be pretty good...

But I'm also puzzled at how you end up with £200

If you feel you are paying too much tax and losing benefits, move to lower paid jobs instead.

I'm sure other people will be be fool enough to take those jobs and place themselves in that awful position. :)

I get your frustration, but this is a very first world problem. Have a word with yourself, then with an IFA for guidance on how to maximise your tax free income.

Move if you want to live in the other country but don't move to avoid taxes or because you're annoyed about ever-changing government policies. That's madness and knobbish.

Get cheaper childcare.

If you move to a lower tax country you will likely have much higher costs for many things.

i'd love to know howmany of the unsympathetic posts are in family situations where their OH works 70 hours a week, they work full time, have kids of 11 months and 3 years in full time childcare. Op, I wouldn't do it, it sounds like a less than ideal plan to me. Why not take a few years out and enjoy it with your DC? If it's really only making you £200pm better off (and I believe you), it'd fail my cost-benefit analysis test.

Well you won't be paying FT childcare for long but presumably you will be earning those salaries for a while.

You don't need free childcare as you can afford to pay for it in full.

If you don't like it, don't go to work.

You won't get much sympathy saying oh deary me, we earn massively more than most people and can afford to pay for childcare but we have to pay tax....er, yes. That's how it work when you earn lots of money. (Apparently, I wouldn't know)

Thanks fakenews, The thing is that I'm very young and I am concerned about being able to go back to work if I took a few years. If the maths had worked out that i wasn't going to be breaking even I wouldn't have worked. I do wonder whether the going abroad thing is just a reason for me not to work, because realistically i wouldn't be able to. That might be subconsciously a reason why I am so in favour of it. I do have massive guilt about putting the kids in nursery 5 full days a week.

You could probably reduce your childcare bill by getting a nanny. In most regions a nanny will cost less than £29k. Or if you have space an au pair is much cheaper and you will have no nursery drop offs to do.

I rarely swear but fuck me sideways are you for real?!

The government doesn't take an "obscene amount of tax" from your DH. He pays proportionally to what he earns. My DH is a high earner and pays a shit tonne in tax and NI, but we don't complain about it. We're lucky that he has a good job and it's right he pays it.

Do you both pay equally towards your household bills or does he contribute more as the higher earner? I'm betting the latter, and the tax system works in the same way.

I would happily swap with you

I used to get wound up about tax OP and now I just try not to think about it. It is the same for everyone who falls into that bracket - we've had a few quirky payslips and a couple of surprise tax bills over the years, plus I expect we are net contributors (lots of tax, but private schools and healthcare). Focus on what you do have and what you can do with 2 good salaries, hope that the government uses your taxes to do some good for people less fortunate.

I can hear the sound of a violin playing. It is the smallest violin in the world.

I've just given sanpro and toilet rolls to the food bank and have not so distant memories of the same food bank helping me when I literally had nothing. Some people are working hard 70 hours a week for less than your £200 a month.