SmithFamily

if his/her other half is not working they will not need to pay childcare I would assume?

lol, no defo not got it wrong we are appx $80 per day for our son who is in full time mon - fri and appx $35 per day for our daughter who is in before/after school. and to cap it off because we dont qualify for any rebates etc, even when they are on holidays we have to pay the full amount, we dont get any discount etc, which we found out over xmas.

various reasons, i suppose. we are new in the country and work is good for socialisation, I reckon if the missus had to spend all day on her own with the kids she would end up going spare lol! plus we are firm believers that you must work for everything you get in this world, we have came to australia to contribute to the economy and make the country a better place for everyone and try and have a better life for ourselves. hopefully if we get PR then we can claim something back and it will mean we can have a little bit extra to start saving and buy a house eventually.

our outgoings are appx as follows:- 1. RENT = $450 per week 2. SHOPPING = $250 per week (minimum) 3. CHILDCARE = $560 per week and thats before you add in any electricity bills, water bills, internet, phone, car costs, shortfall on UK mortgage (rent received does not cover it all), medical etc etc. the joys of being a parent!!! lol

with great difficulty lol! yep, and if you earn any less then you find it is a struggle yep, nearly all my wifes wage (after tax) goes on child care. she gets around $750 per week after tax, but remember that because she works she has to run a car etc, so she is effectively working for nothing!!!

also please bear in mind that for things like childcare, because the government is paying 50% of the costs in the majority of cases, childcare centres naturally push their prices up. okay if you qualify for the rebate, but pretty grim if you dont.

to be honest, from our perspective 1. when emigrating sometimes (like us) you dont have very long to assess everything, we are on a 457 visa and the whole process took less than 3 months from job offer to landing in Oz. In that time there are about a million things you need to take care of in the UK to tie up the loose ends and thats before you even look at the mountain of paperwork required to get the visa. 2. The Oz tax system is very complicated and often you can get two different answers by asking the SAME government department the SAME question. What chance do us mere mortals have of working anything out? 3. Similarly to my 2nd point, people will give you information (in good faith) but often you find that the information can be vaild for only certain types of visa. For example people will tell you off the cuff that you get 50% of your childcare costs back each year through the government, however that is NOT the case (I am led to believe) unless you are a Permanent Resident. So people like us do not qualify (as we thought) for any rebate/help. Bit of a bummer considering we pay FULL tax the same as everyone else.

Hi, We are a young family based in Perth on a 457 Visa. Both adults working and 2 x kids in daycare/after school, which costs around $560 per week. We have not claimed LAFHA and also believe that we cannot get any assistance with childcare? Is there anything we can claim back on our tax returns at the end of the year? Our outgoings are pretty much crippling us!!!!! Thanks for your help!:cute::cute: