` Day Care - Family Child Care Taxes, Day Care Tax Preparation, Daycare, Fremont, California

"Excellent."
--- says T.S. in Fernley, Nevada

Useful Tax Tips Postings:

Standard Meal Allowance Rates

How to Find a Tax Preparer

Get a Tax ID Number for your Business in just 5 minutes

Complete Federal and California Payroll Tax Guide

Incorporation Not Recommended for Family Child Care Providers

Give a 1099-MiSC to your Home Service Providers

Step by Step Instructions for Preparing Form 1099-MISC

 

 

 
 
 

Click here to read my
Letter to New Day Care Providers


Dear Day Care Friends,

I recently attended the annual conference of the California Association for Family Child Care in San Jose. One of the presenters there told of finding her true calling as an early childhood educator in the home environment. I related to the gratitude and satisfaction she expressed, having found my true calling in educating the provider community on tax topics and in working one on one with a good number of you. The quizzical looks I get from tax colleagues when I tell them that I accept only day care providers into my practice serves to confirm the trueness of this calling for me.

The CAFCC presenter also spoke of her commitment to professionalism in the field of family child care and here again I related strongly. I, too, strive to maintain high standards of honesty, integrity and professional conduct.
I, too, believe in the value of continuing education.

I will not sign a tax return unless I have true confidence in the final result. I communicate effectively and respond promptly, even at tax time, so that together we produce the most accurate and advantageous tax return possible. I try to leave you with a greater understanding of the mysterious numbers on your tax return and how they got to be there...and how your own efforts at record keeping and data gathering help your bottom line.

Contact me via email or by calling 1-800-616-1268.

Yours truly,

Visit the Newsletter page to sign up for my
Day Care Tax Newsletter.


Remember:

  • Use a W-9 to provide your tax id number to parents.
  • Don't give out your social security number - get a tax id number for your business.
  • Save all grocery receipts (even for personal food) unless you use the standard meal allowance rates.
  • Track all meals served to day care kids, even those not reimbursed by a food program.
  • Track hours you (and your spouse) work when kids are not present.
  • Always depreciate your home if you own it; depreciation will benefit you and it is not optional.
  • Avoid a big tax bill and penalties on April 15 by making estimated tax payments.
  • Do an inventory of your home furnishings when you start business (or even within a few years of starting).

 


I Help Family Child Care Providers With:

  • Income Tax Preparation
  • IRS Notices and Audits
  • Prior Year Tax Returns
  • Direct and Shared Expenses
  • Daycare Grocery Costs
  • Standard Meal Allowance Rates
  • Time / Space Percentage
  • 100% Day Care Rooms (exclusive use)
  • Home Inventories and Depreciation
  • Record-Keeping
  • Auto Expense
  • Employees / Hiring Helpers
  • Payroll Tax Setup
  • Form 8829, Business Use of Home
  • Form 1040ES, Estimated Tax Payments

 

The Professional Provider from
Sharon Coleman & Associates

Visit the website of Sharon Coleman & Associates to download high-quality professional forms to assist in the daily operation of your family child care business.

SCA also publishes "The Professional Provider." This book covers strategies and techniques that providers experience and use daily to operate a child care business, including the types of relationships to have with families enrolled in your program and making record keeping simple for yourself by utilitzing the forms that are included.

 

 

 

 
 

Are you sure your previous tax returns were prepared correctly? Are there deductions you may have missed?

I am happy to review your 2007 and other prior year tax returns free of charge.

I will tell you if I find errors or if I think you missed some deductions. It may be possible for you to file an amended tax return (meaning a revised tax return) and get some money back.

Here are some of the common mistakes and missed deductions that I see on the prior year tax returns of established child care providers:

  • Time/space percentage to low
  • Provider counted only hours when children were present
  • Exclusive use space left out of time/space calculation
  • Food expense treated as "business meals" and cut by 50%
  • Food program reimbursements not reported as income
  • No home depreciation claimed
  • Wrong amount of home depreciation claimed
  • Home expenses deducted in full
  • Home furnishings inventory never done

 

Click here to view
my quick-reference guide,
Day Care Record Keeping 101
(PDF will take a minute or more to download)

Day Care Record Keeping 101 highlights the most important record keeping chores for child care providers and contains tips to prepare you for tax time, let you pay the lowest tax and help you avoid audit problems.

California child care providers, contact me with your name and mailing address if you would like me to send you a two-sided hard copy of Day Care Record Keeping 101. California Child Care Associations, Resource and Referral Services and others are welcome to request larger quantities for distribution.

 

Day Care Clients, click here to download your Tax Return Checklist.
(This is a quick download.)

 

 

Tom Copeland's Redleaf National Institute

Most day care providers know to take advantage of the educational resources and business products provided by the Redleaf National Institute and Redleaf Press.

To help you with your day-to-day record keeping, I recommend these two products: The Calendar-Keeper and Minute Menu Kids Online Software (formerly C-K Kids). I especially like the online software because it's so easy to record your purchase receipts, attendance, etc., on a regular basis. At the end of the year, it's a snap to print out the information needed to complete your tax return. Minute Menu offers a free 30-day trial and if you like the service, it costs $69.95 for the first year and $39.95 every year after that to renew.

The Family Child Care Record-Keeping Guide contains a wealth of helpful information.

The Inventory-Keeper is helpful, especially for new providers doing their first household inventory.

 

  
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Alison T. Jacks is an Enrolled Agent tax professional specializing in income tax preparation for California Family Child Care Providers. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Alison understands child care tax issues. Her highest priority is communicating effectively with day care providers regarding record keeping and tax preparation so that they pay the lowest tax and avoid audit troubles. Alison also appreciates her many long-time, non-day care clients whom she helps with stock options, rental properties, and much more.

Alison has been working with clients in her local communities of Fremont, Newark, Union City and the greater San Francisco Bay Area since 1995, initially doing business as Taxes On The Net and now as Family Child Care Taxes. Via email, fax and phone she works with clients throughout the state of California.

Alison is a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, the California Society of Enrolled Agents, the National Association of Tax Professionals and the Redleaf National Institute, established by Tom Copeland in 1992 to improve the quality of family child care by helping providers successfully manage their businesses.

California cities where Alison's clients are located: Alameda, Benicia, Berkeley, Brea, Castro Valley, Dublin, Fremont, Hayward, Highland, Irvine, Lincoln, Livermore, Los Angeles, Manteca, Martinez, Milpitas, Modesto, Mountain House, Mountain View, Newark, Oakland, Palo Alto, Paso Robles, Placentia, Pleasanton, Redwood City, Sacramento, San Anselmo, San Francisco, San Juan Capistrano, San Jose, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, San Mateo, San Ramon, Santa Clara, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Santa Rosa, Union City, Van Nuys.

Website by Cooksey-Talbott Studio

Special thanks to Cooksey-Talbott for his wonderful photographs of the Fremont Hills.