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View Full Version : Needing some information regarding opening an "unlisenced" home daycare/Ontario



Erinn W
10-03-2012, 10:29 AM
Hello, My name is Erinn and I am trying to gather information in order to learn more about setting up an unlisenced home daycare in Ontario. Here are my questions I can't seem to get the right answers for through CRA and Gov Canada.

Do I have to "register" as a "business" in order to operate as self employed?

If I am not a registered business, can I have a name for my daycare and claim some expenses for educational materials, toys, toy storage etc?

How do I file my taxes? CRA says that some home daycare's must file in installments?

Any helpful information or guidance in general would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Erinn

mimi
10-03-2012, 11:12 AM
Hi Erin, if you would look at the threads managing a daycare and daycare documents your questions have been answered in detail. Once you have read the threads, I would advise you use an accountant to do your tax returns. As has been mentioned numerous times, the cost of having a pro advise you and do your returns is definitely worth the cost. Good luck with your business :)

BlueRose
10-03-2012, 11:14 AM
I am in Ottawa. I have signed on with 2 agencies. According to the agencies, NO home day can be licensed. Its the agencies that have the license not the daycare itself. And they told me its false advertising to state that you are licensed. That's all I know about that.
as for your other questions, sorry I just opened myself and am unsure about those answers.

Valerie

treeholm
10-03-2012, 11:31 AM
And don't forget to check with your insurance company. I set up a business name so I could issue receipts using my BIN instead of my SIN, opened a business bank account, deposited cheques etc., then my insurance company told me I could not operate using a business name, and cheques had to be made payable to me personally. What an annoyance. I'm still going to issue the receipts at the end of year with my BIN, since I do not want my SIN out there, but I now have two accounts for the daycare; one in my business name, and one in my personal name.

Inspired by Reggio
10-03-2012, 11:54 AM
I agree with Mimi that the answers to all this are on here somewhere ~ however I do find that the search engine for this site is not always easy to navigate so I do not mind recapping for you ;)


....Do I have to "register" as a "business" in order to operate as self employed?....

It is hard to get answers from CRA because this answer depends on which PROVINCE you live in and CRA deals with FEDERAL and they really only care about THEIR rules so that is what their employees are trained in answering ;)

In Ontario no you do not HAVE to register as a business to operate as self employed as long as you never advertize your business by anything other than your legal name ... if you want to advertize your business as 'Erinn's Exciting Early Years Experiences' or "Erinn's Energetic Home Childcare' or any other cute little name other than just your legal name than in ONTARIO you would have to register that name under the Business Name Registration Act that pertains to our province or technically you would be operating 'illegally' and subject to the consequences if caught ~ that said lots of people do not bother to register for this and just take the risk of not getting caught ;)

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90b17 _e.htm

The registration is a one stop shop process through Service Ontario and it costs $60 and lasts for 5 years ... so less than $1 a month. However you want to make sure you check NO to everything else during the registrtiona process you are only registering for the NAME not the WSIB, HST or anything else as childcare is exempt from all the other things you can register for.

http://www.ontario.ca/en/services_for_busines s/STEL02_039990

Benefit to registering a 'business name' is that on your childcare tax receipts to clients you will be able to put your BIN Business Identification Number instead of your personal SIN social security identification number required by CRA for our receipts ~ protecting your identity from being stolen should a client not respect your receipt and leave it lying around or what not.

Also please note just because you register for a business name for advertizing purposes does not mean that you can still not use your personal name and a personal banking account for banking purposes unless you WANT to pay for a business account ~ IME we do not do enough revenue for the bank to care if we just use our personal account to cash any clients cheques and the service charges on a 'business account' are disgusting considering how little we make ... I myself have a registered business name however my clients make cheques payable to ME and I cash them through a no fee personal banking account.


....

If I am not a registered business, can I have a name for my daycare and claim some expenses for educational materials, toys, toy storage etc?....

Two part question here .... as stated above in Ontario if you have 'name' for your daycare you are legally suppose to register it.

As for the second part either way you can claim all your reasonable expenses and so forth as per the CRA document of operating your home as a childcare.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/dycr/menu-eng.html


How do I file my taxes? CRA says that some home daycare's must file in installments?

You file your taxes using the Home Based Business tax forms or electronic program like Turbotax or if you are not sure enough of the rules than you hire an accountant to help you learn how to do this the first few years until you are confident to do it yourself or just keep paying them to do it ... but either way make sure you understand that rules because regardless if your accountant does your taxes wrong it is YOU who pays the penalties so I personally do not trust anyone and check and double checked anything my accountant told me the first two years until I was confident I understood and I know do my taxes myself ;)

Having to pay in installments will depend on your your household income and how much income tax you end up paying .... typically if you owe more than a certain amount in one year you have to pay in installments until you have a certain number of years where you owe under the threshold again .... your first few years my guess is you will not earn enough to pay the kind of taxes required to move to must pay by 'installment' bracket .... basically you have to owe back more than $3000 in a fiscal year ~ you an find more information here.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/gst-tps/bspsbch/pymnts/nstlmnt/menu-eng.html

Hope that helps!

Erinn W
10-03-2012, 04:00 PM
Wow, Some impressive information here! Thanks to all who took the time to get back to me and help me on my way!

Erinn~:D