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FamilyBoost is a new childcare payment administered by Inland Revenue to help parents and caregivers with the cost of early childhood education (ECE). It will come into effect from 1 July 2024.

Eligible households will be able to claim FamilyBoost every three months and be partially reimbursed for their ECE costs.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for FamilyBoost, parents or caregivers will need to:

• have household income of less than $180,000 a year
• have children aged 5 and under in their care
• have costs from a licenced ECE provider
• be a New Zealand tax resident.

Separated parents or caregivers will each be able to claim FamilyBoost if they each have costs for ECE.

How much is FamilyBoost?

FamilyBoost will cover 25% of a household’s childcare costs, up to a maximum of $975 every three months. This is after other government subsidies have been considered, such as Work and Income’s ‘Childcare Subsidy’.

The amount that can be claimed slowly reduces for household incomes over $140,000.

When can people register for and claim FamilyBoost?

FamilyBoost comes into effect from 1 July, but parents or caregivers will need to wait until October to make their first claim.

• From 1 July: Save invoices – Parents or caregivers will need to start saving their ECE invoices (as an image or PDF file) from 1 July.
• From mid-September: Register – Parents or caregivers will be able to register for FamilyBoost in myIR from mid-September or they can wait until October to complete their registration at the same time as their first claim.
• From 1 October: Claim – Parents or caregivers will be able to claim FamilyBoost in myIR from 1 October for the 1 July – 30 September quarter. They’ll need to upload their ECE invoices to myIR to make their claim.
• Ongoing: Parents or caregivers will need to keep saving their invoices for their next quarterly claims.

Where can people register for and claim FamilyBoost?

Parents and caregivers will need to register for and claim FamilyBoost in myIR – Inland Revenue’s online portal. If they don’t have a myIR account, they will need to register for one. They will also need to ensure they have an IRD number for the child/children they are claiming for.

What does FamilyBoost mean for ECE providers?

For households to claim FamilyBoost from October, ECE providers will need to include certain information on their invoices from 1 July. These are:

• Details of the ECE:
  • Name
  • Service address
  • Licence number
  • IRD/GST number
• The full name of the bill payer – the parent or caregiver who will make the claim.
• The full name(s) of the child or children the invoice relates to.
• The date the invoice is issued – the issue date needs to be within the quarter the invoice applies to (eg, 30 September 2024 or earlier).
• The period covered by the fees (eg, 1 September 2024 – 30 September 2024).
• The final amount invoiced after subsidies and donations have been removed. Optional charges and service fees should be included in the final amount invoiced.

ECE providers can provide invoices to households at the same intervals they already do (weekly, fortnightly, or monthly) or to make things simpler they can provide quarterly statements for each claims quarter. Quarterly statements will need to contain the same information as invoices and clearly indicate they’re for the full quarter. For example, they’ll need to include a reference such as ‘Quarterly statement’ and a period/date reference such as 1 July 2024 – 30 September 2024.

FamilyBoost will be paid based on ECE fees invoiced rather than ECE fees paid.

More information

To find out more about FamilyBoost, visit ird.govt.nz/FamilyBoost.

Content provided by Inland Revenue.

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