expenses question help needed!!

[vicky5432]

HI everyone, i currently look after 9yr old twins on a term time only contract. Now i am aware i can claim a % back of things like electric, water etc, the more hours i work the more of a % i can claim. I have got my %'s from the ncma website. I currently work 30 hours per week. In the school holidays this decreases due to the children not attending but i still charge half fees. Do i then look at it as only working the 22.5 hours per week i would still have to work due to other mindees or do i still claim for the full 30. I have been claiming for the 30 but wanted to check as i may need to go back through all my expenses paperwork if i have got it wrong.
I dont claim anything back expense wise if i take holiday and have no mindees at all.
Advice would be appreciated :)

[aly]

in the holiday weeks you can claim 30%, in the other weeks you claim the 22.5 {if thats what you work} and the % for that.

[vicky5432]

thankyou although that now means i have to go back through 9 months of paperwork and change it all aaaargghh:panic:
Basically i need to look at it week to week. What happens if they r off sick, would that still class as hours worked as i would have been available to work??

[Chatterbox Childcare]

thankyou although that now means i have to go back through 9 months of paperwork and change it all aaaargghh:panic:
Basically i need to look at it week to week. What happens if they r off sick, would that still class as hours worked as i would have been available to work??

You still have to heat your house so yes I would claim contracted hours

[fluff1975]

My hubby has done me a fab spreadsheet with hours worked from 1-40 and he's worked out both percentages & costs to claim for each catagory (eg heating & lighting) based on our rates! I'd be so lost without it. It took him a while and if the rates change it'll need updating but it means when I've worked out the weekly hours worked I know at a glance exactly how much to enter.

Does that make any sense at all? I'm typing gobbildy-gook today!

:)

[buildingblocks]

As far as I am aware you can only claim for the hours you work.

So normally I work 6 days a week and a total of 50 hours (so claim the full 40 hours) but this week one of my mindees is on holiday so I am only able to claim for 23 hours.

[MrAnchovy]

As far as I am aware you can only claim for the hours you work.

So normally I work 6 days a week and a total of 50 hours (so claim the full 40 hours) but this week one of my mindees is on holiday so I am only able to claim for 23 hours.

You can overthink this: the concession is not worded in very much detail and has not been tested to any degree in the courts.

As I have said before, if it was me doing this I would add up how many hours I look after children during the year and divide by 52 to give me the average number of hours each week, and use that percentage for the whole year. This has three advantages:

it is simple
it fits the words of the concession
it works out better for you because the weeks you work over 40 hours make up for the weeks you work less

[winstonian]

Wow Mr A - I love that idea!!

[buildingblocks]

:

it is simple
it fits the words of the concession
it works out better for you because the weeks you work over 40 hours make up for the weeks you work less


Mr A I love you in a purely platonic way of course wish I had known this when I first started and was working 90 hours a week (7 - 10.30 some days, overnight care and weekend work included)

[MrAnchovy]

Mr A I love you in a purely platonic way of course
:blush:


wish I had known this when I first started and was working 90 hours a week (7 - 10.30 some days, overnight care and weekend work included)

Hmm, no single method can work for all situations and I don't think you could argue that working 90 hours for 25 weeks and 0 for 27 could be fairly approximated by taking 43 hours a week for a full year so don't take things to extremes!

With these hours you could well be better off claiming deductions for use of your home on the normal basis (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/bim47800.htm) rather than the childminders' concession. More types of cost can be claimed this way (including mortgage interest) as well as a higher percentage - you can't use it if you are looking after your own children in the same space at the same time though.

[buildingblocks]

Thank you for that luckily I no longer work such incredibly long hours (getting too old lol) this was back in 2003 when I first started out and did anything