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If your club takes Tax-Free Childcare, you can use your child’s childcare account to pay for their places. Many clubs let you pay from it straight away at checkout. You can also book now and pay the club from your account on GOV.UK later.
A Tax-Free Childcare payment cannot be undone online. If your club ever refunds it, the money goes back to your child’s childcare account by bank transfer, not to your own bank. That is the law.

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Before you start

  • You have a Tax-Free Childcare account for your child, and money in it that has cleared. Money you pay in can take a few days to be ready to spend.
  • You have added the club as a childcare provider in your childcare account.
  • You know your child’s Tax-Free Childcare reference. It is four letters, five numbers and TFC, like ABCD12345TFC. It is not your 13-digit account number.

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Choose when to pay

In your basket, choose Tax-Free Childcare under How would you like to pay?. Then choose one of two ways under When would you like to pay it?.
The two Tax-Free Childcare ways in the basket at 375px, Pay now chosen, with Book now, pay later beneath it
If your club only shows one way, it takes Tax-Free Childcare the second way: book now, then pay from your childcare account afterwards, quoting your child’s reference.

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Pay now

The first time, you connect ClubDock to HMRC and link each child’s account. After that, paying is one press.
1

Add your child's reference

If the club does not have it yet, type it into the box. Lower case and spaces are fine. If what you typed is not a reference, you are told straight away what one looks like.
2

Connect to HMRC

Press Connect to HMRC. You sign in on HMRC’s own page and give permission once. You come back to your basket, still signed in, with your places still held and Tax-Free Childcare still chosen.
3

Link each child's account

Press Link for each child, for example Link Aisha’s account. HMRC checks the reference against your child’s date of birth and says whose account it is, so you can see it is the right one.
4

Pay

Each linked child shows what their places cost and how much is ready to spend. Press the pay button, for example Pay £45.00 now. You are booked once HMRC accepts the payment.
The Pay now card at 375px with Ellie's account linked, showing £13.00 for her places and £420.00 ready to spend

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Things to know

  • Tax-Free Childcare pays for the whole booking. You cannot split one booking between your childcare account and a card.
  • Each child’s account pays for that child’s places only. With two children on one booking, two payments are taken, one from each account. You cannot pay for a brother or sister from one child’s account.
  • If an account is short, nothing is taken. The pay button cannot be pressed, and the screen shows how much is ready to spend. Choose Book now, pay from your childcare account later to book today. You can switch back to Pay now if you top up and the money clears.
  • Your permission to HMRC lasts 18 months. After that, or if you withdraw it, you are asked to connect again. Connect to HMRC appears in the same place.

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If HMRC says no

If anything is refused, nothing is booked and nothing is taken.

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Paying later from your childcare account

If you chose to pay later, or owe money on an earlier booking, see Paying what you owe. From Bookings you can pay everything you owe from your children’s accounts in one go.