Sign up to Tax-Free Childcare if you’re a payment provider
Find out what you’ll need and what you must do before you sign up to Tax-Free Childcare to get a payment provider account.
Who can sign up
If you’ve already signed up to Tax-Free Childcare as a payment provider, you can sign in to your account.
There’s a different way to sign up to Tax-Free childcare if you’re a parent or a childcare provider.
If you’re a payment provider, you can choose to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare. You’ll need to allow parents to give permission to link their Tax-Free Childcare account with your payment app so they can use this money to pay for childcare.
You can read about Tax-Free Childcare.
Before you sign up
You’ll need a software developer to:
- register for a developer account — your software developer must read and complete the instructions on the HMRC Developer Hub
- create an application in the test environment called the sandbox — your software developer must contact the Software Developer Support Team (SDST) by email: sdsteam@hmrc.gov.uk, to request access to the Tax-Free Childcare Payments Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
We’ll check your software developer’s application, which can take up to 10 working days.
We’ll send you an email asking you to:
- complete and return a supplier assurance questionnaire — you’re responsible for the information you receive from us, the supplier assurance questionnaire gives us evidence that you have the correct processes and controls in place to hold this information securely
- read, sign and return our data sharing agreement — you must sign this agreement to allow information to be shared between you, and us
These documents will be emailed to you as attachments and need to be returned to the same email address.
If your request is successful:
- your software developer will be sent the production credentials for the Tax-Free Childcare Payments API
- we’ll send you a Tax-Free Childcare registration letter inviting you to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare
What you’ll need
To sign up to Tax-Free Childcare you must be the main contact for your business.
You’ll need your:
- user ID, this can be found on your sign up to Tax-Free Childcare registration letter
- business postcode
If you did not receive a letter or have lost your user ID contact the Childcare Service helpline.
Sign up
HMRC services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.
Use the online service to sign up to Tax-Free Childcare.
After you sign up
You’ll need your user ID and password to sign in to your payment provider account. You must sign in to your payment provider account to keep your Tax-Free Childcare security information up to date.
If the main contact details you gave us when you signed up change, you’ll need to contact the Childcare Service helpline.
You’ll also be able to ask someone else to manage your account for you. This is known as nominating a delegate.
You can read more in the sign in to your payment provider account guidance about:
- updating your details
- how to nominate a delegate