I am so confused. I am a stay at home mom and I want to start watching children in my home. I want to make sure I follow all of the laws and everything but I don't want to get licensed yet. I am in Iowa. Do I have to register with the state to do this? If I have less than 5 kids I am license exempt correct? How do I got about doing taxes, do I just save all receipts and figure it out during tax time? Can I except state pay when I am unlicensed? If I don't have to register with the state do I have register to except state pay? Please help, I am confused and online searches aren't helping me much. Thanks!

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Welcome to the forum!

Your status has been upgraded so you can post freely now

Try this link for info in Iowa: https://www.daycare.com/iowa/

It should tell you who to call for information in your state and child to adult ratios

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Here is a link to the actual manual. At the end there is a checklist with all of the things you have to do. If you call your local Department of Human Services they should be able to send you a a hard copy.

http://www.dhs.state.ia.us/policyana...er/comm143.pdf

A lot of new providers do not realize that their own children count in the amount of children they can watch (unless they are of school age) so that is one thing to take note of. Of the children you can watch they can also not be of any age (so you can not have all babies). You will have to check on the ages but if you are registered it is 6 children (including your own) and of the 6 NO MORE THEN 3 UNDER 18 MONTHS AND 4 UNDER 24 MONTHS. You could have all school agers or all 3 year olds buts there is a limit on infants/toddlers.

You still should give your parents receipts (unless you want the IRS knocking on your door), save all of your receipts and do income and expenses monthly. Unless you have a lot of expenses or are lower income you will owe money to the IRS and then you will have to file taxes quarterly. I make a good amount and so towards the end of the year I do a spend down and buy stuff for my daycare and pay less in taxes because my earned income is less. It's a good idea to call the IRS and get an EIN number so you will not have to give out your social security number to all of your parents come tax time. Also, most of the things you spend money on...food..electric...rent...phone (only the second line or cell phone, not the first phone line), toys, gas and mileage to deposit payments at the bank...etc. is deductible but you have to keep good proof. Write down mileage, keep phone records, write on receipts with an explanation of what they were for.....and on and on..also keep sign in and out sheets because things like electric/gas/water/rent have to be done using a time/space percentage. For the first few years it is best to keep great records and have a professional do your taxes.

You can accept state pay when you are unlicensed but you will get paid a lot less by them and I'm not sure but they might make you do a criminal history/child abuse check. These are all things that can be clarified by talking to your local Child Care Resource and Referral Office or The Department of Human Services. The state of Iowa is on a kick to have everyone registered in the next few years and they are trying to make it illegal to be unregistered so you might want to think about that. Good Luck!

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Thank you for the help!

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