Tax Deduction For My Children

[angelamodglin]

I was wondering since I have two children under 12 years still can I write them off as a daycare expense. I have my own daycare but my own kids cause me to be 2 kids short from being full. Can I write them off since I am losing money because of them. Its kind of like paying for daycare in a way.

[KEG123]

No you cannot.

[TomCopeland]

Originally Posted by angelamodglin

I was wondering since I have two children under 12 years still can I write them off as a daycare expense. I have my own daycare but my own kids cause me to be 2 kids short from being full. Can I write them off since I am losing money because of them. Its kind of like paying for daycare in a way.

Nope. You should have thought about this before you had children

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by TomCopeland

Nope. You should have thought about this before you had children

lol @ Tom....

I am pretty sure they ARE still tax deductions, just not business deductions.

You could always pay yourself daycare, then deduct them as dependent expenses, but then you have to claim the daycare income!!!

[TomCopeland]

Originally Posted by bbo

lol @ Tom....

I am pretty sure they ARE still tax deductions, just not business deductions.

You could always pay yourself daycare, then deduct them as dependent expenses, but then you have to claim the daycare income!!!

In order to claim a child care tax credit for your own child, you have to pay someone other than a family member. So paying yourself (or having your husband pay you) won't work.

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by TomCopeland

In order to claim a child care tax credit for your own child, you have to pay someone other than a family member. So paying yourself (or having your husband pay you) won't work.

Tom, I hope you know I was kidding!

I also hope I am not wasting your valuable time playing...

[TomCopeland]

Although I very much like kidding myself and appreciate it in others, I wrote what I did because I didn't want anyone else reading this to be mislead.

[Jennifer91]

You can't claim them, but has anyone here looked into paying your children. I found this website that talks about it.

http://www.bargaineering.com/article...-business.html

[Countrygal]

Originally Posted by TomCopeland

Nope. You should have thought about this before you had children

Yeah, children cause a lot of headaches, but then they ARE a tax deduction!

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by Jennifer91

You can't claim them, but has anyone here looked into paying your children. I found this website that talks about it.

http://www.bargaineering.com/article...-business.html

Tom has said the following on his blog about hiring our own children as helpers:

"Hiring Your Own Children

One note about hiring your own children: If you hire your own child who is age 18 or older you still must withhold and pay Social Security/Medicare taxes and withhold federal and state income taxes. But you won't owe federal unemployment taxes. Contact your state for your state rules. As a result, I believe it makes more sense to give this child gifts, unless you want your child to learn what it's like to be an employee.

If your own child is under age 18 there is no Social Security/Medicare taxes, no state or federal tax withholding and your child care earn up to $5,700 and not owe any federal income taxes. Therefore, there is a tax benefit to your family in that you can deduct the wages you pay and the child probably won't have to pay any taxes. As a result, you may want to treat your younger children as employees."

http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2011/...ve-or-not.html