Nanny employment query

[jampots]

A friend and her dh are setting up a partnership and want to employ a nanny but want to put the nanny's wages through their business accounts. My friend isnt going to be doing an awful lot of work in the practice and isnt extending the childcare to employees children. Can they do this?

They probably need to take proper legal advice on this, but my gut feeling is that they either offer it to all employees as a perk/benefit in kind (in which case employees would be taxed on it) or be able to show that it is an expense of the business.

Why do they want to put it through the business? Is it some sort of tax dodge? If so, I suspect the IR already have it covered .

I would be very surprised if teh IR thought that this was a valid business expense!

In most businesses it would be disallowed for tax purposes and would be deducted from their partnership current accounts. Otherwise we'd all be doing it

If they can do it, I'm going to set a business to recieve my paychecks and then use that money pay nanny before I get taxed. I'm no accountant, but I bet that's a better deal than paying taxes on my income, just to turn around and pay them as an employer so that I can go to my job.

Suspect the IR has already thought of this...

Uwilla - there was a scheme where you could do that, however the 'loophole' was closed at the budget last year. So can't do it anymore

Uwila, what sort of hours do you work? Would a childminder not be more suitable in the long term, even after your baby is born?

No, in order to beat the traffic, I need to be on the road for 7:00. I can usually talk a childminder into 7:30, but not 7:00. And then I have the same problem coming home. I usually get back by 6:00, but 7:00 is very possible as well. And, then I only have an hour to get home, give her a bath, clean her bottle/sippy cup, try and make my own dinner, clean up, and so on.... I used to do this and that very short evening turned into neglect crying baby while I tried to do these chores and get into bed at a reasonable hour so I can get up in the morning and do it all again for the next four days. I just finally decided that that one hour was for DD and NOT THE CHORES. I was so miserable I finnaly declared to DH (and I do mean declared) that we were moving to a bigger house and getting a live in nanny.

don't blame you!