Weekly shopping bill and what to claim?

[juliaemma]

What do you claim back for from the weekly shopping bill regarding the childminding?
Ie could you claim for nappies? Wipes? Powder milk? Fresh milk? Bread? Not sure how far you can go with it? How would they know if it was nappies for your one, or minded children?

I think I'd buy two packs of nappies, one for your child, the other for minded children? You can put any of the other stuff down as expenses as long as it's for minding - don't forget loo rolls (but don't forget to share out the individual pieces of paper between your family and your minding children!)

If I go somewhere with minded children and buy myself a drink, I also put that down as expenses.

doesn't it depend on what you agreed before hand? if you agreed that they would pay you for these things on top of your normal fees then don;t you have to work out - at least roughly - a cost per nappy, a rough idea of how many wipes they get through in a week, cost per milk feed etc. if you did it for 2-3 weeks couldn't you agree an average weekly cost and then just charge that without actually doing the sum each week.

and if they had half a brain then they probably could work out if they were paying for your kid's nappies as well. getting through twice as many as they do at home would kind of be a give away

Are you talking about expenses for tax purposes or passing on costs for parents to pay?

the distinction was lost on me - maybe i misunderstood the question

I change a set amount per meal (relevant to the age of the child) - then put that through m accounts as an expense

As my dd is 7 I put all wipes thro' and half of all my cleaning stuff (bleach, milton,cif, washing up liquid etc) plus half my lightbulbs, toliet rolls, kitchen rolls, tissues etc

IR are quite reasonable but you would have to back up your claims ie if you have 1 minded child it might be hard to claim half your loo rolls if there are 5 of you in your family (should prob a 1/6th iyswim)

Hi,
I meant for IR perposes.....

Hi, I need some easy advice to start my acounts. I've been minding for 3 weeks and have so far managed to just stuff some supermarket receipts in a box. I have one minded baby and two todlers. Plus dh. Am basically scared of paperwork!

I've CATed you ladbrokegrove - I can tell you how I do it

ladbroke - I stuff all my receipts into a box as well (and I've been minding for many years!) You don't have to keep "proper" accounts, just a written record. I have an A4 sheet for each month. The IR have seen how I do it, and were perfectly happy with it.

juliaemma - anything connected to your childminding business can be put down as expenses. As katymac says, cleaning stuff, loo rolls etc.

Prisoner, thank god for that it's precisely the "proper" accounts I'm scared of.

Katymac- thank you, going to really show myself up here, but how do I access it when someone does cAT me? I've pootled around the top menu an d don't seem to be getting anywhere...

You will get an email from MN abd then decide whether or not you want me to have your email addy

If you want to talk...you just email me back(don't reply to the email - that just goes to MN)

cheers Katymac- will check now

i claim £5.00 per child per day.(full day) keep receipts etc. just incase. but never been asked for them.

Thanks for advice girls...so, can i jsut get this into my head....sorry!!.....If i have bought baby milk for my baby, could i claim that too? As how do they know if the minded children would have it too? And nappies? They would be my babys, but can i claim them back too?

You can only claim stuuf "for the business" if you calim stuff for your own children that might be considered fraud or tax evasion

A general rule of thumb is that you can claim for itemns that you would not normally buy yourself if you didn't have minded children, so claim for a % of food, wipes (if mindees use them), toilet rolls ,kitchen rolls, printer paper,ink cartridges etc

If I bought toys/games for my own children, which minded children used as well, then I would charge half of it as an expense for my business. I also charge a percentage for computer stuff (ink, paper).