Food and taxes

[mom2crazyboys]

Hi everyone!! I am wondering how everyone works out their food for taxes. Do you add up all your receipts and use a percentage. Do you assign a daily dollar amount, and work out that way? Thank you!

[lemondrop]

I make up a typical week's menu and figure out the cost per day. I then multiply that by the number of days each child was here and claim it all. Last year it was $7 per day, but with the increase in groceries over the past year I claimed $8 this year (per child per day).

[Lee-Bee]

Probably not much help, but I save all grocery receipts for the year and tally them up. My accountant does something with that number. I believe she just uses the portion of the house used solely for daycare as the portion of the food bill that is claimable. But, I could be wrong.

[Busy ECE mommy]

I purchase all daycare groceries on separate bills, so it is 100% daycare only.

[5 Little Monkeys]

The first couple of years, I bought daycare groceries separately and claimed those receipts 100%. However, it wasn't an accurate number because they would often get our leftovers, which was a lot of the meat and when I baked, that stuff was out of our personal groceries most often.

Now I just buy everything together, tally it up and claim half (that's the number I get to claim for most things) because half my house is daycare dedicated. It made a significant difference to my deductions

[mickyc]

Same as 5LM. Total of groceries for year - half claimed as daycare.

[33 Daiseys]

same as 5lm, though i buy separate cleaners and toilet products that I claim 100 percent on.

[RoseMomof2boys]

my husband is a tax consultant at a firm in oshawa and have quiet a few clients who have daycare businesses and enter all grocery receipts, then will ask/confirm with client what is the percentage of the groceries are for daycare use.

there is no rule of thumb as per cra how much to claim but generally it is anywhere from $6-$8 per child.

it is best to keep the receipts of course because cra does audit home daycare businesses