How much is deductible for food per day?

[torontokids]

I remember reading somewhere on here that there is a set amount for what can be claimed for daycare food expenses. Can someone tell me how much per day per full time child and for b&a kids?

How does everyone divide up food costs? For example if I am making a stew for the daycare kids but my family will eat what is left for supper how do I account for this? What I have been doing is trying to buy some of the ingredients on my family's food bill and the other half on the daycare's food bill but there must be a simpler way!

Thanks!

[Wonderwiper]

Hi!

Thats not quite correct. There is no set amount. You can claim any " reasonable" amount. As long as you can back up your claim the amount does not really matter. I just pay for groceries in two separate ordersso I have daycare receipts and personal receipts. Other providers work out an average per day and use that technique. Just find a way that is easiest for you that you can back up with proper receipts.

[Momof4]

I agree. I know some people figure out how many children are in care per day and how many meals per day, but that's an awful lot of math! I add up my grocery bills for daycare food and claim that. If there is any questionI have log books listing all the food I feed 5 children/week and if an auditor actually wants to calculate all that, well, WOW!

[godsgirl]

I wasn't sure about this either so I did some digging myself. And wonderwiper is correct. You can claim any amount as long as you can prove it is reasonable. I don't separate my receipts for groceries as the kids eat everything that we eat (for e.g our lunches are last nights leftovers). If anything I actually think they eat more $ wise because I serve TONS of fruits, veggies, and cheese (which we all know it's very expensive to eat healthy). I am licensed and only started last July so I had all my biweekly numbers of who was here FT and before/afterschool. So I just added my FT and BF/AS kids and days and just charged $6 ($1.50 for 2 snacks and $3 for meals) for FT and $2 for BF/AS (afterschool kids eat more than the little ones). It worked out to be just over 50% of my grocery receipt total (I have 3 FT and 2 BF/AS kids, plus my own 2 yr old, my husband and myself).

I've also seen people charging up to $10+ for a full day because they are buying all organic and more expensive food as well. For me, this year I will just add up my totals monthly so that it's not so much adding at the end of the year. Whatever method you choose (whether it's a percentage of your groceries at year end or a daily rate) just be consistent and use it every year and be able to justify it in the case that you may be audited.

ugh....taxes suck! But they feel so good when it's done :)
Good Luck!!