Tax Free Childcare

[kmini]

Two questions which I could really do with clarification on:

• Firstly can you pay private school fees with your tax free childcare account?
• I currently have a little girl at nursery and I normally pay her fees via direct debit. I hadn't realised the tax free childcare benefits. Can anyone clarify for me how it all works. Do you pay the invoice minus 1/12 of £2000? I am a little befuddled!

Just realised I didn't say thank you! Very rude. Appreciate any help!

www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

This will answer some of your questions. It's for 'approved childcare' so not private school fees.
You open an account & deposit your funds, the government then tops it up by 20%. You add the childcare provider to your list of payers & pay them from the childcare account. I have only done one off payments but there are options to set up regular payments. You can have a maximum of £500 top up per quarter. Hope this helps a bit, once you have the account set up, before you put money in, there is some good info on how it works.

Thank you. Very much appreciated

Maths wise, if you paid in £1000 then topup is £250, so 25% of that you pay in. £1250 *0.8=£1000
Max topup is £500 per 3 month period, per eligible child.

With regard to paying the school I would ask the school. For a reception or nursery it might be possible but not for older children.

Thank you