Hiring Nanny - can you do it yourself rather than through nanny tax?

[whompingwillo]

As per title - we are struggling as it is with costs especially with NI hikes and squeezing ourselves to the max to have a nanny but reality is 2 days a week we both absolutely have to be at work in the office and can’t cope with illness etc from nursery so it’s either I don’t work or we have a nanny.

Can we do the payroll etc ourselves to save on fees for Nannytax?

Has anyone done this?

You can yes. It’s quite complicated though

Have you tried shopping around - I remember we used PAYEfornannies who do the same thing but cheaper.

How much are they charging you?

you can do it yourself but just be very careful you are complying with all the requirements

Xpost I use payefornannies after nannytax messed my payroll up so another vote for them!

Just to add - are you only using the nanny 2 days a week? And do they work for other families on the other days? If so then it may be more appropriate for them to be self employed anyway and just invoice you for hours worked.

If a nanny works regular hours you need to employ them. It doesn’t matter how many days it is.

OP yes you can do it yourself. Or have a look at nannypaye.

HMRC has a PAYE tool which will do calculations and sent RTI data for you. As long as you put in the right info you'll be fine. There's also the employer helpline who will talk you through everything you need. You absolutely can do it yourself, these organisations make money because they rely on fear of the unknown.

https://www.gov.uk/basic-paye-tools

Unless your nanny can send a replacement if she can't make it (one of the characteristics of self employment) then she's employed. You can't just decide to be self employed because it suits.

No, nannies generally don’t tend to be self employed.

OP isn’t a payroll from NannyTax or similar about £18 a month?! No idea why you’d over complicate things by doing it yourself for the sake of that amount.

They can be if working for multiple families.

They’d have to be working for three or more families at the same time, so quite unusual.

A permanent two day a week job is employment. I have a one day job, which is done via PAYE. I am also self employed for ad-hoc work. OP should be very careful about getting employment status right.

Payefornannies, NannyPaye, and others can all be useful. Cost for doing the payroll admin is around £300 a year, so not a huge part the overall cost of employing a nanny.

You can do it yourself but you need to understand PAYE, employment law, tax law, and pensions. You can use HMRC Basic Tools to do the reporting to HMRC.

It's a bit of a ballache and seems an extra risk in terms of not doing it properly for the sake of the cost of a coffee a week more or less.

It’s actually a bit more complicated re self employment or employed than any of the criteria that everyone is setting out here. There are “badges” and it’s determined by multiple factors not one thing - eg my cleaner is self employed. If she sent a random person to my house in place of her using the key I’d given her I’d be pretty pissed off!

Yes you can do it yourself - I had a family who do it

Nannytax is the most costly company so def cheaper about

and no your nanny can’t be se if you are dictating the days and hours she works

so unless you want a huge fine and possible jail sentence for tax evasion I would ignore @minipie suggestion

sure you love your nanny but cm are cheaper usually even with 2 kids

plus be no employers ni or pension or holidays to pay /add on

We’ve decided not to bother and we’ve done it all through our agency’s payroll service. (Little ones) Because we hired with them we got 3 months free. After that we will pay 290 per year. I honestly can’t be bothered to do all of this myself. I hate it when I have to call HMRC. They take external as well, so may be a good shout. They’ve been super helpful, always on call. They always pick up the phone and answer any question no matter how small.

We had a lovely nanny for years and got a bookkeeper to sort the tax etc end of it.

I think you will find they are not self employed according to HMRC and they are the only one's that count really

All right! Ignore me re self employed. Apologies for any confusion caused.

Only if they are providing ad hoc care such as a maternity nanny or holiday cover. If they have a regular day/days and are not able to send a replacement nanny if they are ill etc then they have to be employed.

Yes, I’ve been corrected multiple times already Comefromaway but thanks.