Parents · ANI

How do I calculate my ANI for Tax-Free Childcare and childcare support hours?

23 Sep 2026 · What counts, what doesn’t, and how to check you’re under £100k

Tax-Free Childcare and the working-parent 30 hours / childcare support hours both use Adjusted Net Income (ANI). If your ANI is over £100,000 in the tax year, you generally lose eligibility — including up to £2,000 government top-up per child on Tax-Free Childcare.

ANI is not your take-home pay, and it is not always the same as the salary on your contract. HMRC explains how to work it out in Personal Allowances: adjusted net income. Here’s what goes in, what stays out, and how this calculator builds the number.

What counts toward ANI

Start from income that HMRC treats as taxable for the year, then adjust for certain deductions (especially relieved pension contributions). For a typical employee that means:

Employment pay — salary and wages.
Cash bonuses — quarterly / annual bonuses paid through payroll.
Taxable benefits in kind — e.g. company car or EV BiK (list price × BiK %). See tax on company cars and BiK percentages.
Other taxable income — if you have it: self-employment profits, taxable interest, dividends, rental profits, taxable foreign income, and similar.

Then subtract amounts that reduce ANI when they get UK tax relief in the right way, for example:

Pension salary sacrifice — comes off pay before tax and NI; ANI falls with it (salary sacrifice).
Auto-enrol / net-pay pension — comes off before income tax; ANI still falls.
Nursery salary sacrifice (if your employer’s scheme allows it) — reduces cash pay and ANI when it qualifies as employer-provided childcare.
A bonus fully sacrificed into pension — never enters cash, tax, NI, or ANI.

Rule of thumb: if it increases your taxable income (including BiK), it usually pushes ANI up. If it is a relieved pension or qualifying sacrifice that lowers pay before tax, it usually pushes ANI down.

What doesn’t count

Plenty of “money you have” never enters ANI. Common surprises for parents:

Capital gains — selling shares, a second property, crypto, etc. is charged under Capital Gains Tax. Gains are not part of Adjusted Net Income for this threshold.
ISA savings and ISA returns — interest, dividends, and gains inside a Stocks & Shares or Cash ISA are tax-free and do not sit in ANI.
Casual personal sales — clearing out the loft on eBay, Vinted, Facebook Marketplace and similar usually doesn’t count if you’re selling your own used belongings and not running a trade. Regular buying-to-sell / trading income can count — see whether to tell HMRC about extra income.
Premium Bond prizes and other specifically tax-free windfalls.
Inheritance itself (though income later earned from inherited assets can).
Your partner’s income in your ANI figure — each adult has their own ANI. Household childcare rules still look at both adults’ eligibility separately on gov.uk.

If you’re unsure whether a side hustle is “trading” or a one-off clear-out, treat trading profits as countable and check gov.uk / an adviser for edge cases.

Why use this calculator?

Spreadsheet maths gets messy once you add pensions, bonuses, nursery schemes, and a company car. taxinfo.uk builds ANI from the same inputs that change your take-home pay:

Salary, tax code, and student loan
Pension type and contribution (salary sacrifice or auto-enrol)
Quarterly bonuses — including full bonus salary sacrifice
EV / company-car salary sacrifice and BiK (so ANI isn’t understated)
Nursery salary sacrifice eligibility and Tax-Free Childcare top-up when ANI ≤ £100k

You get a live ANI figure, a clear eligible / over-£100k badge for childcare, and planning notes when sacrifice is what keeps (or could get) you under the cliff. Everything runs in your browser — salary data does not leave the page — and the URL bookmarks your scenario.

Calculate my ANI →

Sources on gov.uk

Not official HMRC guidance. Confirm current rules on gov.uk Tax-Free Childcare and with your employer or provider.

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