Important Tax Deductions for Home Daycare and Child Care Providers

It's tax time - are you ready? Chances are, if you started a home based child care business in 2007 you are feeling very overwhelmed about your taxes. I know that feeling! I ran a home daycare for nine years and tax season can be intimidating! Whether you are having a professional complete your taxes or you are doing them yourself, there are several things you need to know to help the process go more smoothly.

First let's talk about the issue of professional tax preparers versus doing it yourself. Which method is better? I personally have used both methods. The first year I needed to file taxes for my home child care business, I attended a workshop put on by a local community college that dealt specifically with taxes for child care businesses. It was extremely helpful. I would suggest asking around to find out if there is something like that available in your area. You can check with other daycare providers, local community colleges, or child care organizations to see if someone can point you in the right direction. After attending the seminar, I decided to do the taxes myself that first year. I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the situation and professional tax preparers can be costly. I was able to get help from the IRS through their website http://www.irs.gov, and over the phone (see website for phone numbers). It takes some patience to get through to them because sometimes the hold time is lengthy, but when you do get through the help is outstanding! That first year I did my taxes the old fashioned way...on paper! I completed them on paper for a couple of years actually.

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER

A few years into my daycare business I chose to have a professional complete my taxes, mostly because of some items to be addressed in our personal taxes that we weren't sure how to handle. I was relieved to find out that I had been doing a pretty good job with my business taxes! The accountant was able to find a few more deductions that I hadn't been claiming that proved to be very helpful. After that year, I chose to go back to doing my own taxes, but I decided to use one of the tax software programs. They turned out to be easier than I thought they would be and the online question center was very helpful. I loved that I was able to file my taxes electronically, which significantly reduced my wait time to receive my refund. I continued to complete my taxes using computer software for the duration of my child care business years. Personally, I think that you can successfully complete your business taxes yourself, especially using tax software, and save yourself significant money. It might be beneficial to have a professional do it the first year so you are certain that you are taking all of the deductions you should take. After that, you can look back on the first year taxes as you complete them yourself to ensure that you are completing them correctly.

What sort of deductions should you be claiming? One of the biggest deductions you should be logging is your mileage. This is actually one of the deductions that I wasn't claiming until I had a professional complete my taxes. I found out that I had been missing out on a huge tax savings by not keeping track of my mileage. I didn't fully understand what mileage I could claim for my child care business. I thought I could only claim mileage for field trips or training classes. How very wrong I was! A home daycare provider can claim mileage for ANY trip in which child care business is conducted. This means that every trip to the grocery store to buy food for daycare, every trip to buy art supplies or toys, every trip to the bank to deposit child care income, is a business trip and you should be keeping track of your mileage!

Mileage is deductible from your home to the location and back again. That being said, you need to be honest with your mileage calculations. If in one day you first travel to the bank to deposit checks and then you head to the grocery store to buy food before heading home, you can't count mileage from home to the bank and from home to the grocery store. You need to calculate mileage from home to the bank, from the bank to the grocery store, and from the grocery store to your home to be fair. Just to give you an example of how large a deduction mileage can be...I live in a rural area, so a trip to the grocery store and back for me is about 30 miles. The bank is even further. In an average year, I was able to claim approximately 10,000 miles for a deduction for my child care business! This comes out to be a 00-00 deduction! I know you are wondering what to do if you make a trip to the grocery store to buy both food for your business and food for your family.

Can you claim that mileage? Absolutely! You are still there conducting daycare business, so that mileage is deductible! I know your next question is, "I didn't keep track of my mileage for 2007, so do I lose out on that deduction?" Not necessarily. One method I use to calculate mileage is the receipt method. I am sure that you have been saving your receipts from trips to the store. You need them for tax purposes anyway (see next paragraph). You need to go back through your receipts and create a mileage log based on them. Count up how many times you went to each store and write it up, including the name, address, and reason for going to each store. Then you will need to logon to a website such as http://www.mapquest.com and choose the option for finding directions. Put in your starting address (usually your home) and the address of the store you went to. Then click on find directions. When the program lists the driving directions, it will also list the mileage. You will need to double the mileage, since the program only gives you mileage for the trip to the location, not for the return trip.

Once you have the roundtrip mileage for a certain store, multiply the mileage by the number of times you went to that store for daycare business in 2007. Voila...you have a mileage log! You will need to calculate the number of times you went to the bank for childcare also, and use the same method as above for calculating the mileage. If you don't save all of your deposit receipts, go back through your checkbook registers to find all of your deposits. Remember to include things like field trip mileage, or trips back and forth from the school if you pick up child care children from preschool or kindergarten. Using this method will give you a fairly accurate calculation of your mileage and can provide you with a huge tax deduction!

Another deduction that you should be claiming is the cost of food and supplies for child care. This is another huge tax deduction! There are two ways to handle food for child care. You can either shop separately for your daycare food than for food for your family, or you can shop for both at the same time and separate items for daycare later on your receipt. Personally, I didn't shop separately for two reasons. First, if you shop for food that is to be used for your home daycare business, then that food can ONLY be used for your home child care business! That means that if your son or daughter wants to take a granola bar to school for snack and you purchased those for daycare, you are going to have to say no. I know that sounds extreme, but if you are claiming those items as strictly child care items, you need to keep them separated from food for your family. Secondly, it is really a pain in the neck to do separate shopping for your family and your business! It means either separate trips to the store, or at least separate shopping carts in the store! The advantage to shopping separately is that you can claim every penny spent on food for child care on your taxes.

I chose to shop for my family and my business together and not to keep the food separated. It made things a lot easier in my house. However, it did make my record keeping for my business a little trickier. Once a month I had to go through my grocery receipts and mark off items that I knew were not used for child care, such as coffee or soda pop. Once I had eliminated those items from my receipt total, I then had to calculate which items on the receipt were food items, which were consumable items (like toilet paper) and which were non-consumable (like toys). I then calculated a total amount for that receipt of each of these categories and wrote it at the top of the receipt. Come tax time, I calculated a total amount spent for the year for each of these categories. Then, in order to fairly calculate a deduction for each of these categories based on how much was used for child care and how much was used for my family, I had to apply the time-space formula to each category.

The time-space formula is an invaluable equation that allows you to fairly claim child care expenses based on how many hours out of the year you spend being a daycare provider. The equation is fairly simple. First, you need to calculate the approximate amount of space in your home that you use for your child care business. You need to include every space that is ever used for daycare. You need to include your primary child care room of course and your kitchen. But you also need to include the bathrooms that the kids use, the dining area if they eat or do crafts there, the laundry room since you will invariably be washing blankets, sheets, towels, etc. that were used for daycare, any rooms in which children nap, your home office if you use it to create forms and file business paperwork, and any other place the kids use. You need to exclude any rooms that the children in your care never use. Be fair in calculating the approximate percentage of your home that is used in your business.

Once you have this percentage, you need to figure out the approximate number of hours you spent in 2007 performing duties related to your business. You, of course, need to figure out the number of hours per day that you actually care for children. You also need to take into consideration the approximate amount of time per day that you spend cleaning up from child care or getting ready for child care. Then you need to figure out exactly how many days you provided these services in 2007. You then multiply the number of hours per day by the number of days you provided care. That gives you the number of hours you spent in your business in 2007. Now you need to figure out the percentage of hours you spent in your business compared to the number of hours in a year. There are 8760 hours in a year. So, take the number of hours you spent doing daycare and divide it by 8760 and this will give you the percentage of time you spent doing child care in 2007. Finally, you need to multiply the percentage of time you spent doing daycare by the percentage of your home used for business to find a final percentage that you can claim for costs shared by your business and your family.

This gives you your time-space percentage. Here is an example: Let's say you decide that you use 80% of your home for your business. Now, you spend on average 10 hours per day on your business and you calculate that you spent 200 days being a child care provider in 2007. Multiply the 10 hours per day by the 200 days (10 X 200), to find that you spent 2000 hours providing child care services in 2007. Since there were a total of 8760 hours available in 2007, you will now divide your 2000 hours by 8760 hours (2000 divided by 8760) to find that you spent about 22.8% of your time being a daycare provider in 2007. You can round that up to 23%. For your final calculation, you need to multiply the amount of space used in your home by the amount of time spent doing daycare to find a final percentage that you can claim. In this case, you would multiply the percent usage of your home (80%) by the percent of time spent (23%) (80% X 23%) to get a final percentage of 18.4% or 18% since we would round down. This is the percentage of food, consumable items, utilities, and mortgage interest you will be able to claim for your child care business. The calculation takes a few minutes, but it saves a lot of headache in the end. Non-consumable items like toys or cookware are 100% deductible for your business.

If you have a professional complete your taxes, you will want to make sure to have all of your information with you at the initial meeting. This will save you from having to get information to him/her later and can actually save you money in tax preparation fees. My accountant charged me less because she had less work to do since I had done most of the information preparation done before I met with her. You will want to bring a sheet that shows the total amount of income for your business for 2007, a calculation of your time-space formula, a list of expenses (include a note about which ones should be multiplied by the time-space formula), a mileage log, and any other information relevant to the business (such as a tax id if you have one). Be prepared to back up all of this information with receipts if your accountant wants to see them. Don't stress if you don't have everything the accountant wants. You can get it to them later if necessary. If you don't have everything in order the accountant will let you know, but it will cost you more since the accountant will have to spend more time in preparing your taxes. Be as prepared as you can and you will have much better, and cheaper, results!

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tax preparation for home child care businesses. This seems like an overwhelming amount of information, but there is actually a lot more. Don't give up yet. There are a lot of resources for you to get more information, such as the IRS, an accountant, or a local organization. The best advice I can give a home daycare provider is to be incredibly organized. Keep all of your receipts, keep an accurate mileage log, keep an accurate receipt book recording income, and keep all of it readily available. If you follow this advice filing your taxes will be much easier!

Important Tax Deductions for Home Daycare and Child Care Providers

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER

Professionals in Clinical Documentation Improvement Programs

Clinical documentation improvement programs involve many people including documentation specialists, clinical research associates, documentation coordinators, drug specialists, medical coders, and IT auditors.

Nowadays, most hospitals and facilities have adopted clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs to create clear and dependable medical documentation of their patients. The main purpose of this is to record all the medical data of a patient, including the details regarding the nature, severity, and extent of the medical problem; expected outcome of the identified problem; procedure of the medical care and treatment course; and the patient's reaction to the treatment program. It typically includes personal details such as age, address, sex, date of birth, history of vaccinations and other medical treatments, and family history of the patient.

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER

In other words, clinical-documentation provides a complete picture of medical and health history of a patient. It makes legal and insurance procedures easier and can be used for future reference. Hence, naturally, it becomes very important that it should be as precise and as complete as possible. The clinical documentation improvement programs are useful to improve the quality and accuracy of the medical data and help to reduce the diagnostic errors.

A clinical documentation improvement program usually incorporates many strategies, such as getting help from other health care departments, hiring, and training right professionals, ensuring accuracy of documentation, and preparing concurrent medical review. Recent innovations in the biotechnology fields have led to many improvements in the domain of this. It has now become a profitable industry in many parts of the world and offers jobs to thousands of people.

A clinical documentation program mainly consists of a clinical documentation specialist, who is responsible for the formation and preservation of all medical files. It is the duty of a specialist to assess and scrutinize the medical records and make sure that all the date and information are accurate and correct. He or she must possess fine communication skills and also be able to present the medical data in an interesting and readable style

It is imperative that a clinical documentation improvement specialist should have a clear understanding of the medical terminologies, medical classification systems, and various coding concepts. Mostly, the organizations employ a registered nurse as their improvement specialist. However, a specialist should also know how to work within the legal bounds and therefore should possess sufficient knowledge of relevant legal regulations.

As noted above, the clinical documentation improvement programs aim at documenting all information pertaining to the treatment of a patient, and hence need the services of many other people like coordinators, clinical research associates, documentation specialists, drug specialists, medical coders and IT auditors. All these professionals are supposed to work together to facilitate the implementation of an accurate clinical documentation. Moreover, the professionals are obligated to follow the ethical standards formulated by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

Professionals in Clinical Documentation Improvement Programs

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER

Cultured Marble Care

A common bathroom surface material is cultured marble. Cultured marble is actually a surface composed of several materials, including marble dust, limestone and resin. The material is most common for bathroom vanity tops that have built-in sinks, but it can also be used for showers and bathtubs. No matter what surface is made of cultured marble, it is important to use the proper materials and procedures to keep it clean. Given its porous nature and malleable properties, cultured marble is not as resistant to stains and damage as other materials. There are, however, steps you can take to ensure your cultured marble surface lasts for years to come.

When it comes to cleaning cultured marble, keep one thing in mind. Do not use abrasive cleansers. Most cultured marble is sealed, and any cleansers containing abrasives or bleach can break down the seal. Water based cleansers work well for basic cleaning purposes. If you have soap scum or similar buildup on the surface, vinegar can break up the residue without harming the seal or cultured marble itself. If anything spills on the surface, be sure to wipe it up as soon as possible to prevent stains. Unlike other surfaces, cultured marble is susceptible to permanent stains, especially from materials such as hair dye and oil-based products. This is due to the variations in sealants used among cultured marble manufacturers. The safest course of action is to clean all spills right after they happen even if the manufacturer claims the seal will resist stains. Other options for preventing staining include placing a thick cloth over the surface while using products that can stain or using such products in areas that do not have cultured marble.

CARE IMPROVEMENT

To maintain the finish of your cultured marble surface, consider how said surface looked when you first installed it. The main finishes available for cultured marble are satin and glossy. Satin, a low luster finish, requires little in the way of extra maintenance outside of regular cleaning. With glossy finishes, you may want to invest in a polish. Avoid polishes with carnuba wax, as these polishes are designed for less porous materials. Water or silicone based polishes are good options for this tricky surface. Some people may recommend polyurethane if the finish remains dull after polishing. Keep in mind, though, that it is difficult to apply polyurethane if you do not or cannot remove the cultured marble surface from the room. If the sealant spills on other fixtures, it can cause damage and may not be removed. Likewise, if the cultured marble has detail work, applying polyurethane into the crevices can take a long time. This is a project that can work with properly prepared cultured marble but is not recommended for those who are not able to invest a lot of time in the project.

Since cultured marble is more malleable than other kitchen and bathroom surfaces, it is more vulnerable to dings, scratches and similar imperfections. Use caution when holding heavy objects near or above cultured marble. Though it takes an object of great weight to cause noticeable damage, even a shampoo bottle can dent the surface. Such dents can change the overall texture of cultured marble over time. If you spot a dent or scratch on a solid colored surface, you can apply a small amount of appliance or car wax to fill in the gaps. However, if there are multiple flaws or if the surface is a unique color, have a professional rebuff and polish the surface for you. The cost will be higher than doing it yourself, but the finish will be more consistent throughout the surface.

Depending on your budget and ideas for your kitchen or bath, cultured marble can provide you with years of durability. Taking care of this material is different from maintaining stone or laminate. Most of the things you can do to maintain your cultured marble surface require little time on your part if practiced regularly. The key is keeping the seal in tact. Once you adjust your cleaning routine to accommodate this objective, your cultured marble will be around for years to come.

Cultured Marble Care

CARE IMPROVEMENT

Traditional Vs Managed Care Health Insurance Plans

Improvements on life and sickness insurance wouldn't be possible without the emergence of new organizational frameworks for care system. Since the original health care reform dubbed as managed care model was introduced in North America, several countries have followed due to its apparent positive long-term effects in integrating medicine and health sectors for better care for patients.

As a result, health insurance providers are posed with the challenge whether to stick with what is traditionally offered or to keep up with the innovation in health care. But this requires no further probe since the general public are nowadays being offered with two options in what health care coverage to enroll to: traditional health insurance or managed care health insurance plans. Probably, the better question is which of these two is the best health insurance?

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER

In traditional insurance, the patient has to pay the covered health expenses and reimbursed it later after preparing and submitting the documents necessary to have the request processed successfully. While in the second type, cost-effectiveness for diagnosis and treatment is highly emphasized. Attesting to it are its programs requiring pre-determined co-payment and eligibility of senior adults with limited income. Moreover, managed care insurance reinforces the need of constant monitoring of the performance of health care professionals.

Based on the facts presented above it seems that managed care insurance outstand the traditional. However, studies have shown that there is a divided opinion on whether the support it provides is indeed true to improving people's quality of health.

Traditional Vs Managed Care Health Insurance Plans

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER

What Commercial Lawn Care Equipment Can you Purchase?

Many people pride themselves in keeping their gardens up together and this includes the perfect care of their lawns. The good news is that you do not need to have a big lawn in order for it to look spectacular; it all really comes down to how you look after it.

By applying the proper care to your lawn, it really helps to maintain healthy looking results. In order to help you to achieve this, you could make full use out of commercial equipment.

CARE IMPROVEMENT

Using the Right Equipment on Your Lawn

By using the right equipment it can really help to make the job in hand much more efficient and it is also easier to help to maintain your lawn and give it the proper care that is needed. There are quite a few different types of commercial lawn care equipment available that have different purposes in mind. For instance, there is certain equipment available that is specifically designed to help with small lawns and there is other equipment available that are only to be used during certain seasons of the year. Whatever your garden needs, there will always be some lawn care equipment available to you to fill those needs.

One of the most essential pieces of equipment to look after your lawn would be a lawnmower. However there are also other pieces of equipment that can come in extremely handy as well, such as hedge trimmers and leaf blowers.
For anyone who has a fair sized lawn, a lawnmower will help to keep your grass short and looking as good as possible. Also, combined with a trimmer, you can tidy up the edges of the lawn perfectly too. During certain seasons dead leaves can be a problem on your lawn; especially if there are a lot of trees nearby. However, you do not need to fret as a leaf blower can easily sort this problem out. If you suffer terribly from weeds, which a lot of people do, then a weed trimmer would be the perfect solution to this problem and it is a quick way to do it too.

The use of commercial equipment for lawn care makes the task in hand so much easier, meaning people of a reasonable age can look after their lawns without many problems. It can help to save a lot of time compared to doing things manually and it also helps to take better care of the lawn at the same time.

During the winter months it can be extremely hard to look after the lawn; however there is a massive range of commercial equipment that can help to keep your lawn looking as good as possible. Snow blowers are a useful piece of equipment during snowy periods of the year, as they easily get rid of snow and ice that is on the lawn.

So if you are worried about your lawn you really do not need to be because with the use of commercial lawn care equipment, you can easily manage your lawn and have it looking as healthy and as good as possible.

What Commercial Lawn Care Equipment Can you Purchase?

CARE IMPROVEMENT

Long Term Care Today

Long term care is a composition of multifaceted services which have evolved in a relatively short period of time. As it continues to grow, new challenges arise giving way to a vast variety of new opportunities and developments within the system.

These problems will worsen as the population ages. Therefore, the need for long term care research is more critical than ever. And, this is the dilemma the baby boomers are about to face once they hit the age of 85. They are considered to be the ones who are in most need of a secure LTC insurance.

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER PORTAL

In the coming years, the need for long term care is expected to increase. But, due to the current workforce shortage US is facing today, there is already an eminent lack of health care professionals knowledgeable of providing optimum health assistance to future elderly individuals. Assisted living facilities such as nursing homes servicing both home and community-based care concur to this scarcity in workforce.

Studies show that a few factors affecting this concern involve immigration trends, trends in retail and service sectors in the economy and access to other employment opportunities for women. This consequently affects LTC providers' way in getting additional people to work for them. Plus, the demanding job itself is an obvious reason as well. Professionals see the work tedious and pay is not good in return that's why most decide to stop and venture to other line of work.

Moreover, the developments being done within the long term system has attracted attention and interest of many. The latest bill passed was the CLASS Act which is set to implement in 2011 but a remark its detractors raised is most of the details behind this improvement remain unclear. In effect, most people are kept doubtful on its effectiveness and sustainability.

Even the costs and premiums of LTC have become daunting challenge baby boomers, in particular, are about to face. With the varieties of insurance policies and their complexities, these resulted to clouded and vague descriptions which produce confusion to what LTC is truly all about. This confusion also led to deceitful policy coverage which un-established insurance companies take advantage of. The growing demand for LTC is certainly remarkable and gave way for people to become aware but as long as shadows remain behind the system, the issue will continue to grow.

Thus, research is important to make a critical analysis on potential solutions to better understand and improve the health care system. With advance explorations and tests of new models of care, there is a better chance of shaping new possibilities and practices to help shape resolutions for the current issues LTC is facing today.

Long Term Care Today

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER PORTAL

Residential Energy Property Tax Credit - What Homeowners and Builders Should Know

Homeowners can now make energy saving improvements to their homes and receive a tax credit up to ,500 when filing their 2009 income tax return.The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which was enacted earlier in 2009 expanded this credit. If you spend ,000 before the end of the year, on eligible energy-saving improvements, you may be able to save as much as ,500 on your 2009 Federal income tax return.

The credit is equal to 30% of the cost of all qualifying improvements subject to maximum credit limit of ,500 claimed for 2009 and 2010(both years combined). The credit applies to improvements such as insulation, energy-efficient exterior windows and energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning systems. For additional information on qualifying improvements please visit the IRS website.

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER PORTAL

To qualify as energy-efficient, the improvements are required to meet new standards that are more restrictive than the standards that existed in prior years. In addition, manufacturers are required to certify that the product meets the new standards by providing a written statement to that effect. In order to qualify for the credit, the improvement must be placed in service after December 31, 2008 but prior to January 1, 2011. The improvements must be made to the taxpayer's principal residence which must be located in the United States.

Taxpayers must claim the credit in the tax year in which the improvement is made by completing Form 5695.

Tax Tip - Some vendors may mislead you or there may be some confusion about the certification since the credit existed in prior years. For this reason, it is very important that you make sure the certification statement is for the 2009 credit rather than a credit from a prior year. A word of advice, since certain slow-moving energy-efficient products from last year may be marketed at closeout prices during the holiday season, it's critical to verify that you have purchased a current year product with the 2009 certification from the manufacturer in order to use the credit on your 2009 income tax return.

The tax credit can only be used if you have a tax liability and you cannot use it if you have no tax liability. You are now required to file a regular Form 1040 to use the credit. It is not available to 1040EZ and 1040A filers. So instead of filing Forms 1040EZ and 1040A you need to file Form 1040.

Due to other credits claimed by a taxpayer, limits based on tax liability and other factors, the actual savings may vary.To best determine if you qualify for this ,500 credit you should ask your accountant to help you make this determination.

Residential Energy Property Tax Credit - What Homeowners and Builders Should Know

CARE IMPROVEMENT PLUS PROVIDER PORTAL