Another tax question ;)

[lunademiel]

Sorry Ladies, I know there are a gazillion tax questions out there. I had a home daycare for a few months last year. I am adding up all my receipts for food and inputting them into an excel spreadsheet. I have each child multiplied by the number of days in attendance multiplied by the number of meals served. Then I have my family meals served for the year. Then I take both numbers and divided the monthly grocery bill by those numbers. It ends up working out to almost $7 per meal (2 snacks and 1 lunch) which works out to $21 per day for food alone each kid! No wonder I was making no money! I'm worried that this is just too much to claim. I don't want to end up being audited! What do you all claim per child per day?

Thanks!

[mimi]

I spend about 5 - 7 dollars per day per child on food, so yes, your tally is excessive. I just go through my grocery receipts and highlight all foods I use for daycare. Some items on a grocery visit I will only claim a portion like a pound of butter I would claim 1/2 as I wouldn't use that much for daycare alone. It is tedious, but I feel it is accurate.

[Artsand crafts]

That looks kind of high. If you have only2 kids that would be $210 per week (2 kids x $21 x 5 days) Are you taking into account weekends and afternoon dinners for your own family? They will be consuming more of your food because of that.

[playfelt]

I was told to also factor in that an adult eats more than a child so use the ratio of 2 snacks equals one meal and 2 children meals equals one adult meal. That will change your ratios slightly and lower the amount per day. Mine usually works out to more like $7 a day per child not per meal. So basically it takes one child's income to feed the daycare.

[Shannie]

mine worked out to $7 per day per child as well.

[Monday 2 Friday Mama]

It sounds awfully high to me as well. I average 5-7 dollars a day (per child) for food. (my weekly food bill is about $120) I'm feeding two meals and two snacks to five children. (2 x 16 month olds, and 3 x 2.5 year olds) Hope this helps !