Are late fees considered "taxable"

[Inspired by Reggio]

Personally my $1/minute late pick fees are not charged as a penalty but COMPENSATION for my time at having been required to work overtime hours ~ the PENALTY for being LATE in my contract is immediate termination of your contract if you make it a habit ... aka you get one FREEBIE pass in a fiscal year where you could not get your shit together to get someone here in time for pick up your kid regardless of the 'reason' you make it a habit and you are gone

Otherwise IME the late fee is not a penalty at all ... when i worked in centre care the parents come in waving the fee like a get out of jail free card for their poor behavior ~ here's your fee so we are all good at you having been kept late yet again ... it just becomes their 'normal' to have to pay that and in exchange they feel 'entitled' to be late cause they are paying you

As for are 'late fees for pick up' something that should go on their 'childcare tax reciept' to use for a deductible childcare tax credit ... totally think that truly depends on how you look at the rules for expense in the first place?

I know some centres I worked at the late fee went through the 'office' as a form was filled out and signed indicating how late the client was and so forth and the client had to 'sign agreement' than were 'billed' and the provider just got paid their 'normal wage' for having stayed late or they got paid overtime depending on the centre but it was all through their 'pay cheque' so being claimed as income by the employee and revenue by the company so no 'grey area' in an audit by CRA.

Others as mentioned the staff got it directly in full from the late client and it bypassed the office recording entirely cause it was deemed as an 'arrangement between the two parties' and they left it up to the staff to CHARGE IT and therefore to claim that income from the client or not and for the staff to issue a receipt for that or not ... some of my peers did charge and others did not like conflict andsso would just let it slide time after time!

Either way if they 'charged it' the CRA income tax forms 'technically' require those staff to still claim that late fee as income ~ it goes on the 104 line on your income tax under 'other employment income' .... income earned that does not show up on any T4 slip ... you provided a service and received financial remuneration you are suppose to claim that income.

Another point of consideration is childcare expenses are only 'tax deductible' for a client if they are incurred for the specific reasons listed on the long form of income taxes CRA ... but we are still required to write out a receipt for ALL childcare offered and paid for through our business cause well how do we know if the parent is receiving care for an 'allowable reason' or if they are just wanting a 'socialization program' for their kid that is totally up to them to be honest with CRA when using it as a 'deduction' or not?

How do we prove if they are late cause they had to work late or stay at school late or were 'researching or studying' and lost track of time verses out at the gym or grocery shopping we still provided 'childcare services' during that time regardless? .

Based on complaints of a lot of providers we provide A LOT of care to children whose parents are not 'working / in school / being paid to research' in order to meet the criteria of an 'allowable childcare expense deduction' but we are still expected to issue a receipt regardless so what is the difference with them having been 'late' and incurred an additional fee as a result?

For me it is just easier to stay out of the gray area and claim it ALL since it is such a small amount for me anyway than having a client I ended up terminating for chronic lateness 'complain' to CRA on me that I did not record ALL their childcare expenses and have myself get audited or something