State Aid And Showing As 2x Income

[jen2651]

I accept state aid but I have my clients write me a check for the payment up front. Then, whatever I receive from their assistance, I write a check for to them (the clients).

This seems as though I will be showing this as income twice.... Would I just not record the in and out? But then it looks as though I am not claiming $ received from the state.

Sorry if this is confusing - My rate is $130/week. My client pays me that. I receive a check from the state for $216 (two weeks payment). I write a check back to the mother for the $216.

I do this to prevent me from losing out on $ if their funds are reduced etc. but am I really shooting myself in the foot?

Thanks!

[Blackcat31]

I would just write in the memo line of your receipt that it is for REIMBURSEMENT pending state funds.

I would also make sure you have a contract or written statment about how the parents are aware that you are having them pre-pay you and that you will only be reimbursing what the sate pays on their behalf.

Did that make sense? Sorry it has been a long day already and re-reading my words they seem confusing...

Good idea though to do that as I have found that many times over the years, I have been shorted by the state and/or parents haven't fulfilled their obligations so the person NOT getting paid is me! I learned the hard way and no longer have those issues any more, thank goodness.

[MarinaVanessa]

What blackcat said .

Keep track of the checks from DCF's and track them as income. Then when you get your subsidy checks count those as income too. Then write your DCP's a reimbursement check and like Blackcat said make sure to include in the memo line that it's a "Reimbursement" than record this check as an expense. It'll even out in the end.

[jen2651]

Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa

What blackcat said .

Keep track of the checks from DCF's and track them as income. Then when you get your subsidy checks count those as income too. Then write your DCP's a reimbursement check and like Blackcat said make sure to include in the memo line that it's a "Reimbursement" than record this check as an expense. It'll even out in the end.

But expenses don't come out at 100%. It won't be like I never took it in (know what i mean?! sorry, it has been a long day here too). I wish there was a way to have them be just given to the mom, like signing the checks over to her as opposed to them going into my account and then back out like an expense... maybe I am confused on income and expense, this is my first year!

But to me, it will look like I have $5,000 of income (when it should really be $2,500 (random numbers). I just have a feeling this will come back to bite me.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by jen2651

But expenses don't come out at 100%. It won't be like I never took it in (know what i mean?! sorry, it has been a long day here too). I wish there was a way to have them be just given to the mom, like signing the checks over to her as opposed to them going into my account and then back out like an expense... maybe I am confused on income and expense, this is my first year!

But to me, it will look like I have $5,000 of income (when it should really be $2,500 (random numbers). I just have a feeling this will come back to bite me.

Personally I wouldnt record what the parent pays you in the MMK. Go ahead and give receipts for it but if you write reimburement on the receipt I would think you are fine. Only enter what the state pays you in the MMK stuff.

Unless the parent has to pay you more than the state pays...which in that case ONLY record what the difference is.

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by jen2651

But expenses don't come out at 100%. It won't be like I never took it in

Sure it will. Think about this ... claiming toilet paper is a shared expense so you can only claim it as an expense by using your time/space % right? o if you buy $100 worth of toilet paper and your time/space% is 40% then you can claim $40 of that as a DC expense. But say that you get DC blankets that no one other than your DK kids use, these blankets you can claim 100% as a business expense. Do the same as the blankets for reimbursements.

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

Personally I wouldnt record what the parent pays you in the MMK. Go ahead and give receipts for it but if you write reimburement on the receipt I would think you are fine. Only enter what the state pays you in the MMK stuff.

Unless the parent has to pay you more than the state pays...which in that case ONLY record what the difference is.

This is one way of doing it. I do it a little different.

I use MMK and I invoice all of my clients even if they are subsidy clients (I only have 1 at the moment). When I get my subsidy check for them I edit their invoice to show a "discount" in the same amount of my subsidy check which should zero the invoice out. I just make sure to specify that the reason why I'm giving the discount is because of the subsidy check that I received. This way if my subsidy check was short then the invoice still shows a balance that the parent now has to pay. Then I claim the subsidy check amount as "other income" and specify that it was a subsidy payment for whichever client for whichever month it was for.

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa

This is one way of doing it. I do it a little different.

I use MMK and I invoice all of my clients even if they are subsidy clients (I only have 1 at the moment). When I get my subsidy check for them I edit their invoice to show a "discount" in the same amount of my subsidy check which should zero the invoice out. I just make sure to specify that the reason why I'm giving the discount is because of the subsidy check that I received. This way if my subsidy check was short then the invoice still shows a balance that the parent now has to pay. Then I claim the subsidy check amount as "other income" and specify that it was a subsidy payment for whichever client for whichever month it was for.

Good thinking! I guess I never really gave it much thought but this (your) method makes a ton of sense and I do believe I am going to start doing it this way from now on.

Hmm, learn something new everyday! Thank you!

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by Blackcat31

Good thinking! I guess I never really gave it much thought but this (your) method makes a ton of sense and I do believe I am going to start doing it this way from now on.

Hmm, learn something new everyday! Thank you!

I guess it's me returning the favor for all of the advice and things that I learned from you . I'm pretty sure though that I still owe you