Child care tax relief

Increase in tax exemption threshold for child day care

If you're working and pay for child care, this relief increases your total tax exemption threshold. You will either pay no tax if your income is below the exemption or you will pay less tax if your income is more than the exemption and it's preferential for your tax to be calculated using the marginal rate calculation.

You must be making payments to a registered child care provider, for looking after your qualifying child if they are aged 12 or under.

Child care providers include:

family child carers
day nurseries, including states-provided nursery schools
accredited nannies

If you need help completing the childcare relief section on your tax return watch our help video.

Filling out your personal tax form

Who can claim

You will receive the increase to your exemption threshold for paying child care if you are entitled to the child allowance exemption and are:

a married couple who are both working, each with earnings of more than £5,000
in a civil partnership who are both working, each with earnings of more than £5,000
a married couple where one of the spouses is not working due to severe illness or disability
in a civil partnership and one of the partners is not working due to severe illness or disability
an employed single mother with earnings of more than £4,500
an employed single father with earnings of more than £4,500
a person in a co-habiting relationship paying for the child care with earnings of more than £4,500

Amount of increase to exemption thresholds

Enhanced child care relief

You can claim enhanced childcare tax relief for each year of assessment up to and including the year in which your child is entitled to support in respect of early years education.

Standard child care relief

If your child is over the age of 4 before 31 August in the year of assessment and aged 12 or under, the standard increase for child care will apply.

Year of assessment	Enhanced child care relief maximum amount per qualifying child (£)	Standard child care relief maximum amount per qualifying child (£)
2016	14,000	6,150
2017	16,000	6,150
2018	16,000	6,150
2019	16,000	6,150

'Second earner' calculation

If you are married or in a civil partnership, the relief is calculated on the earnings of the 'lower earner' and their earnings must exceed £5,000.

Example 1: both spouses working with earnings of £25,000 each, child care fees paid £10,000

Marginal tax calculation without child care tax relief		Marginal tax calculation with child care tax relief
Joint income	£50,000	Joint Income	£50,000
Less		Less
Married exemption	(£23,950)	Married exemption	(£23,950)
Second earner's deduction	(£5,850)	Second earner's deduction	(£5,850)
Child allowance	(£3,000)	Child allowance	(£3,000)
		Child care tax relief	(£10,000)
Total deductions	(£32,800)	Total deductions	(£42,800)
Taxable income	£17,200	Taxable income	£7,200
Marginal tax rate 26%	Tax = £4,472	Marginal relief rate 26%	Tax = £1,872
Pays 8.95% tax on their total income for the year		Pays 3.75% tax on their total income for the year

Example 2: both spouses working, one has earnings of £10,000, the other has earnings of £40,000, child care fees paid £10,000

Marginal tax calculation without child care tax relief		Marginal tax calculation with child care tax relief
Joint income	£50,000	Joint income	£50,000
Less		Less
Married exemption	(£23,950)	Married exemption	(£23,950)
Second earner's deduction	(£5,850)	Second earner's deduction	(£5,850)
Child allowance	(£3,000)	Child allowance	(£3,000)
		Child care tax relief	(£5000)*
Total deductions	(£32,800)	Total deductions	(£37,800)
Taxable income	£17,200	Taxable income	£12,200
Marginal relief rate 26%	Tax = £4,472	Marginal relief rate 26%	Tax = £3,172
Pays 8.95% tax on their total income for the year		Pays 6.34% tax on their total income for the year
*Child care relief has been calculated as follows: Second earner's income £10,000 less the first £5,000 of that income = £5,000. This is the maximum child care relief that can be claimed in this example.

How you claim

Your tax return includes a section for claiming childcare tax relief.

As evidence of the payments made, you will need to get a certificate from the person or establishment concerned for each child in care. This will confirm:

the child care provider's name
the child care provider's registration number (if applicable)
the child's name
the child's date of birth
your name
the total payments made for child care in the year

Use the information on the certificate to complete your personal tax return.

Don’t include any amount which has been paid to you as a child care component of income support.

Keep the certificate(s) in your records, you don't need to include then with your tax return.

Child care relief certificate (for completion by child care providers only)

Checking if your childcare provider is registered

Any person or setting that looks after your child and provides a professional service must be registered under the Day Care of Children (Jersey) Law 2002.

Nannies are accredited by the Jersey Child Care Trust.

Childcare information

You can find the full list of childcare providers on the Jersey Child Care Trust website.

Childcare certificate calculator

If you're an accredited nanny you can use the calculator below to correctly complete childcare certificates in accordance with the law. Advice and assistance is also available from the Jersey Child Care Trust.

Calculator to produce child care certificates (accredited nannies only)

Other support for childcare

You may qualify for help towards the cost of child care from income support. If you receive income support towards your child care payments, these can't be claimed as a deduction for tax.

Income support rates