I am currently trying to work out if it makes sense to join the new tax free childcare scheme in September this year or stick to the old scheme which allows me to claim a max of £124 worth of vouchers per month. This is complicated by going on mat leave this year as well - I will probably take a full year, paid for 6 months and then sat mat pay for 3 months then nothing so I will potentially get the childcare vouchers for "free" for the second six months.
I employ a nanny in London for 4 long days so the cost is pretty astronomical. When I return to work, nanny will be looking after 3 under 4 so the new scheme could be potentially be great.
Q: can I pay into the scheme when on mat leave and bank the tax free saving for when I return to work? It seems to suggest that I can but not totally sure.
Q: can I pay the tax due in respect of my nanny from the scheme? If it operates in the same way as the current scheme then the payment itself has to go to the ofsted registered person and so would suggest this can't be done. This actually reduces the total tax saving benefit a fair bit. Not sure even my nanny costs will hit £30k a year on a net although they are over that on a gross basis.
Q: if at some point we have banked tax free savings and then tip over the "one parent earning £150k per year", can we still use the banked tax free savings or do they get lost?
Really annoying that there is not more detail available. It's going live in six months which is not that long to work this stuff out.