Tax-free childcare threshold question

[reabies]

Hiya, my husband is in a position where his bonus in December may take us over the threshold to be eligible for the tax-free childcare for working families. I have to reconfirm my details with them in early December, but I won't know if his bonus will take us over the threshold until the new year.

Does anyone know how I go about notifying them if that's the case? Do I just wait until the next confirmation period? I assume not, because then I'll have to pay things back, and I'd rather just not be claiming things we aren't eligible for.

I've tried to google but just keep getting the eligibility info.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I think you might need to pay it all back for the year if you go over the threshold regardless of when you tell them but the website isn’t very clear. Not helpful I realise!

Also you should do the maths about the bonus. We found that we were better off putting more into pensions than taking the bonus due to the removal of tax free childcare, the removal of the personal allowance and the free hours.

Oh and don’t forget to check and benefit in kind things he gets (private health care, company car etc.)

Put extra into pension to bring it under the threshold. No brainer.

Thanks all - yes I know DH could funnel some of it into his pension but again I don't really understand how. Probably because it's not my job and my HR team but I don't know if he's given a headsup of his bonus before it's paid, so he has time to divert it into his pension. I don't know if that means he needs to make a regular contribution to his pension at that level or if a one off payment covering the bonus is fine. I don't know how much the bonus will be. These are all things I need to ask him but I also wanted to find out if anyone knew about what happens if we just take the hit on the tax free childcare and how we go about notifying them.

Most pensions let you put a lump sum in so that would be easy enough to do.

You do not need to repay a penny.

Once your DH knows his bonus amount, if it takes hom too high, he should make a one-off payment into his pension that takes his earnings £0.01 below the threshold.

You then retain all the entitlement.

They have a very friendly phone helpline - worth asking directly

The response from HMRC on this thread is very useful

community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/pt/275dbd06-5b4b-ee11-a81c-6045bd0ba09e

Provided you took due care when making the declaration you won't be required to repay.

Thanks everyone! Have asked DH to get his head around his bonus process and see if he can make a lump sum deposit that keeps us under the threshold for the year. It's a bit awkward asking about a bonus before one's even been given 🙈but I think it's important to understand the process so we can act accordingly. Last thing I want is to incorrectly claim and then have to pay back. Thanks again!