Should You Open a Dayhome?

Opening a dayhome may be a good idea for you if you wish to stay home with your children but still contribute to the family’s income. What more can you ask from your dream job than to finger paint and use glitter on the job? The start-up costs are low and there is always a steady stream of parents looking for childcare for their little angels.

The Alberta government is looking at adding at least 42,500 new licensed child care spaces over the next five years. Funding will be available to help new dayhome owners gain access to professional development and training. Please consult https://www.alberta.ca/federal-provincial-child-care-agreement.aspx for more information about this grant.

Branding:
Beyond the licensing and such, marketing and deciding your branding for your dayhome, your dayhome finances are equally important. Deciding on branding will help you to decide your pricing structure. Some people have chosen to charge more per child and take less children to offer more one-on-one care. These types of operations typically offer specialized educational features. Other dayhomes focus more on reasonable pricing or flexible schedules. The important thing to remember when deciding on branding is to ensure it matches your personality.

Budget:
The next thing you need to draft is your dayhome budget. Click here for a sample of a dayhome budget. It is easy to get excited about how great an idea is until the idea hits the wallet. There is an old saying that goes, “if you watch the cents, the dollars will take care of themselves”. Cool gadgets may seem like good ideas, but make sure you don’t get too excited about them.

Taxes:
Everyone’s favourite subject…but, you will thank us come tax time, we promise. Here is a list of things you need to keep track of to make tax time a wiz.
1.  Your house expenses
       - Rent or mortgage interest (not principal payments)
       - Property taxes
       - Utilities
       - Total square footage used to run the dayhome
       - Total square footage of the house
       - Number of hours a day the house is used as a dayhome

2. Your vehicle expenses
       - Gas (Keep ALL of your receipts even when you fill up to go on your family
          vacation)
       - Insurance Registration
       - Any maintenance
       - Lease payments or interest paid on your vehicle loan
       - The value of your vehicle when it started to be used in your business
       - Total kilometers driven in the year
       - Total kms driven to operate your business

3. Your food expenses: our recommendation is that you keep your dayhome groceries separate from personal groceries and keep the receipts.

4. Your office expenses: Bookkeeping software Paper and other stationary Bookkeeping & Tax preparer’s fees

5.   All other expenses
      -Toys and other supplies
      -Field trips 

Issuing Receipts:
Many parents count on receive a tax break when they are paying for childcare. In order for parents to receive this tax break, you must provide the following information on your receipts:
-the name of the person you are preparing the receipt for
-the name of the child of the person you are preparing the receipt for
-the amount you received for your services
-the period you provided these services (from and to dates)
-your name and social insurance number (or the registered name of the dayhome)
-your address
-your signature
-the date you signed the receipt

Have more questions? We would love to help.