Tax deductions for childcare as hot-desking firm offers onsite nannies

‘The ideal solution for those who want to work in an office but can’t find childcare’. How a hot-desking company is providing tax-deductible daycare.

BubbaDesk founder Lauren Perrett with son Charles. Picture: Jeremy Jones

A hybrid hot-desking and childcare company is offering tax-deductible daycare for parents who are self-employed or working from home.

Cashing in on the demand for work-family balance, start-up company BubbaDesk is providing desk spaces and onsite nannies so parents can take their babies and toddlers to work.

Parents pay between $137 and $176 per day for a work station, with nannies caring for groups of four children in a separate space onsite.

Already, 150 families are using the centres at St Leonards in Sydney and Erina on the NSW north coast.

Founder Lauren Perrett opened the Erina centre in November, after struggling to juggle her career with caring for her toddler.

“It’s the ideal solution for those who want to work in an office but can’t find or afford childcare,’’ she said on Tuesday.

“It’s ideal for freelancers, small-business owners, remote workers and hybrid workers.

“We do invoice 100 per cent of it as a co-working space, so it’s tax-deductible.’’

Parents cannot claim government childcare subsidies, which cover up to 90 per cent of the cost of daycare fees in traditional childcare centres.

The cost of childcare or a nanny has never been tax-deductible in Australia. But BubbaDesk estimates tax deductions for the workspace will cut the out-of-pocket costs for parents using the centre’s nannies to as low as $69 per day.

Its website shows the daily fee at St Leonards, of $160 plus GST, would end up costing a parent earning more than $180,000 a year just $88 per day, based on tax deductions in the top tax bracket of 45 per cent.

A parent earning $120,000 a year would end up paying $108 in out-of-pocket costs for a workstation with a nanny.

“To claim a deduction, the desk hire expense must be for a dedicated workspace that you use exclusively for income-producing activities,’’ the company states on its website.

“It means you should not use the space for personal purposes.’’

BubbaDesk provides working spaces from 8.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, and requires parents to check in on their children every three hours.

Workstations and nannies are provided on a flexible pay-as-you-go basis, so parents are not locked into set times each week. If parents leave the building, they must take their children with them.

Ms Perrett said BubbaDesk provided qualified childcare workers and nannies, as well as unqualified staff who had experience looking after children.

“All of our childcare workers have working with children checks and first aid certificates,’’ she said. “They have a Certificate III in childcare, or are experienced nannies, or are parents themselves.

“We attract ex-childcare workers who just want to go back to looking after children – we don’t require them to write reams of paperwork every day.’’

Ms Perrett said the service was popular with breastfeeding mothers, who could feed their babies at work.

She said BubbaDesk, set to open a centre in Alexandria, in Sydney’s inner west, was looking to expand nationally.