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Hiya!
I have a couple quick question, what is the best way to give receipts?
And do you providers give a photocopy of the contract for the parent?
oh! And one more, do you require that all infants be vaccinated upon entering your private care?
Thanks!
I give out receipts in January and July for the preceding 6 months of care, unless a parent and I arrange something different. I used to do quarterly, but I had parents asking me to just "hang on to" their receipts. So 2 times a year is it.
I don't give a photocopy, they get a copy of my guidelines/handbook and they sign an attestation and give it back to me. It goes in the file.
And no, I don't REQUIRE vaccinations to be up to date. I ask, so that I am aware. It is such a contentious issue right now, that it's not really my place to dictate. If you choose for your child not to have their "shots" and place them in a multi-child care situation, that is your decision.
Thanks, mom-in-alberta! I didn't think I had to give receipts each month. I agree about vaccinations, I as for records, but I personally leave that decision up to the parents...
What is an attestation?
I give out receipts at the end of every month and I photo copy my contract/forms that parents have signed and give them the copy. As for vaccinations, it's up to the parents what they want to do.
Receipts - go out the first week in January for the past year.
Vaccination - I don't give two hoots if kids are vaxed or not. My own kids are not vaxed and I would rather ALL my dckids not be vaxed to be perfectly honest.
Contract - I give each parent a copy of the contract. I can't expect them to remember the rules without having a copy. And I DO expect them to know the rules.:yes:
I give a weekly receipt with each payment using a receipt book I get at Walmart - like how it is worderd which gives me a duplicate copy. I also give a one page monthly summary for tax time in January for the preceeding year.
Vaccinations are up to the parents but I reserve the right to exclude a child during an outbreak of a disease they are not vaccinated against since they are more vulnerable to catching it and bringing it into daycare as most vaccinations reduce the severity of a disease not prevent it.
I give reciepts yearly as well and I do give a copy of the contract as that is the norm with other contracts you would sign...I would never expect to sign something and then not recieve a copy. And as Judy said, the parents need to be able to refer to it if they have doubts or disputes about anything.
I give receipts whenever payment is given (they have a choice of weekly or monthly).
Parents always get acopy of a contract.
THat's how I would want it done if my kids went to a daycare.
Do you have to give receipts regardless of whether you are licensed or unlicensed home day care? And do parents use those receipts for tax purposes? Sorry if I sound silly. I'm new to this country and don't know how things works here?
Thank you.
Cocoon
Yes, the parents will use the reciepts for incoem tax purposes and so you have to claim the income as well on your taxes. It does not matter whether you are licensed or unlicensed, you have to report the income and parents have the right to claim the expense, so you do need to provide reciepts. If you do not claim the income, that is illegal, so if you do not provide reciepts, parents could report you.
Thank you Kangaroomama, I think I would provide receipts yearly to avoid unnecessary paper work.
I never provided receipts. I had a separate account for my business and my clients transferred the money to my business account. Everything was there, who pays how much etc. Parents were already getting tax relief because I was registered and gave them my registration number.
Would families be OK. if I provide yearly receipts? And what else do I need to show them so that they know I'm an honest person and pay my taxes?
Thank you,
Cocoon
I have a question- in January 2011 my son (9 yrs) went to an after school provider, and she stated 8 dollars per day without a receipt, 10 dollars with a receipt. I agreed to the 10 dollars and carried on. She is on record at the school as his after school provider and I did pay her a few times by cheque. At the end of the year she said that she decided not to give a receipt. Can I still claim the care costs for my tax return for 2011?? Help!!!
Hi Kangaroomama, I jurst read your post after I made a post....my provider refuses to give me a receipt. Can you comment on my post? I'm not sure what I can do.
You can definitly still claim it especially since you wrote by cheque. I would call and tell her to provide you with a reciept immediately or you will report her to the gov't fraud department.
What a bag!! I can't believe she went back on providing you a receipt. I would absolutely let her know that you paid $10 per day (which by the way seems quite low to me) under the agreement that you would receive a receipt. I would calmly state that if a receipt is not provided, you WILL be contacting the Canada Revenue Agency to let them know.
I am fully aware that many home daycares do not report their income, and therefore will not provide receipts. I choose to because I want to have "provable" income for banking and credit purposes. If someone else would rather take the chance, hoping that the government doesn't catch up to them, that is their choice. But it's just low of her to do that, in my opinion.
Cocoon: all families need from you is a receipt (whether you do it yearly, monthly, weekly, etc is up to you) with your name, Social Insurance number (I hate that we have to provide that), the child and parents names and the amount. Check the RevCan website:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tp.../menu-eng.html
There is tons of info on what you can and cannot use for tax purposes. You can write up one on your computer, or use an actual receipt book (I think I got mine from the dollar store!).
And PS: what you pay in, or even if you pay, taxes is none of the families' concern. If you are providing them with receipts, that is all that they need to know.
If you get a business liscence ($60 for 5 years) you don't have to give your sin # cause you will have a business liscence number
Louise: actually what she is doing is illegal. Even if you had paid the $8, she is required to report that income to the government and you have the right to claim it. If you had entered an agreement to pay less with no reciept, you would have been participating in defrauding the government. Tell her that you are going to claim it with or without a reciept and that you will report her to the government. I'm pretty sure she won't like the prospect of being audited!
i give an official receipt only for income tax purposes by february so that the parents have the rest of the month to double check them before the actual due date to make sure for accuracy. i will give a receipt from like those copy books for deposits that is not used at tax time by the parents (as it is included in the official tax receipt). i always give a photocopy of the parents signed contract back to them. i do not enforce immunization as it is a parents right not to immunize and can not be enforced for school systems here in ontario. i have had children who are allergic to the contents of what is in certain vaccines as well...
Sounds like I am one of the few that gives a weekly receipt after each payment - use a basic receipt book from walmart or even dollar store. And I also give an annual statement the end of January that details each month and a total and has my info on it that they need. If they are asked to provide proof of expenses to revenue canada it is that form they send in and some of mine have in the past had their taxes audited and I was so glad that my one page statement they could use made me look very professional because I was leery the whole time they were being audited knowing they were cross checking to me because of it in a sense.
I keep all the receipts until the end of the year then give them all out with a typed page that summarizes every payment with date and amount. That way if the parents send in their receipts or that page to the government they have a duplicate. I'm NOT making up duplicate receipts, that would take too much time so this way nobody loses receipts.
As for your contract question, I make up 2 copies and we all sign both copies so the clients and I each have a legal copy in our possessions.
I usually write a one page receipt and give it to the parents beginning of February. I provide my name, address on there but not my SIN. The government will find me either way by name and address if they needed.
In the past, I had daycare providers give me the exact same thing when I used daycares and it worked when I did my taxes and none of these parents have had an issues either.
For my own use I keep a spreadsheet tracking daily attendence and weekly amounts collected. At the bottom of the sheet it tracks how much each family has given me during the year so it is easy for me to put in my receipt at the end of the year and it also tells me how much I have earned so far in the year at any given time.