Setting up new business - Can I claim childcare vouchers if i'm in a partnership or LLP?

[OompaLumpa]

I'm trying to work out if me and my business partner would be better off setting up a partnership or LLP? I'm going to be working part time and my DD will be in nursery. I would like if poss to take advantage of getting childcare vouchers but if i'm not "employed" can i do so? Unless I set myself up as a company and the company becomes one of the partners?
I don't even know if that is possible?
My brain hurts LOL!!

You should take professional advice: the best structure for two people working together is often a limited company; an LLP is usually the worst option (the reporting requirements are as onerous as for a company but without the tax advantages).

You would need to be employed (rather than self-employed in any kind of partnership) to get childcare vouchers.

Hi Mr A many thanks for your thoughts - will follow that up...

As a partner in a business I actually sought to have child care vouchers considered for people through my MP ( who was very supportive) to HMRC with no joy I am afraid. We did get a question in the house and a written response from the minister at the time.
We are currently reviewing whether we switch from a straight partnership to LLP and as Mr A says there is additional cost and reporting requirements for an LLP. We do not want to switch to a Ltd for a whole variety of reasons, but the biggest is that our industry it is very abnormal and viewed with suspicion. We are considering the LLP to allow us to retain profit held in the business as capital without paying income tax on it. We would manage this at a level beneath coroporation tax. As Mr A says we are receiving very specific advice for an accountant who specialises in partnerships and LLPs.

We are considering the LLP to allow us to retain profit held in the business as capital without paying income tax on it.

For anyone else reading this, note that this is not normally possible so it is not generally a good idea to go down this route.

Lizcat I'm not cutting across your accountant's advice, and there is indeed a way to achieve something similar to this using intermediate holding companies for the 'partners' but it is much more complex to set up and run and so only worth going down this route if you really need an LLP.

Mr A thank you for your advice we are considering this with an intermediate holding company as one of the partners, yes it is much more complex. My point was that in certain professions where partnerships have been the norm Ltd companies are viewed with a lot of suspicion and an LLP can be a useful option for liability purposes where creating a Ltd company could create trading difficulties for you. In my profession it is particularly considered by partnerships where the potential claims on professional indemnity insurance are higher than the level it is possible to insure for.