Now that the kids are out of school it might be the right time for you to start a day care business. If you are a stay at home mom chances are you have already been approached to see if you would be interested in doing some day care by the working moms in your area. It is hard to find good day care services so it shouldn’t take you long to get your new business going.
The first step is creating the right mind set that you are actually going to be running a business. This isn’t where we are just talking about doing a favor for someone. As such you need to approach it in a proper business manner.
Not only are you going to have the task and responsibility of caring for the children but you are now going to have to take on the administrative role for your new business. This entails all the paperwork.
In the eyes of the CRA you are going to be classed as being self-employed, but in the case of some daycare services this may not always be that. In some cases the day care provider may be classed as an employee. What we are discussing here is a separate business that is run from your home.
It may be that you only want to do this for the summer months, and perhaps for special occasions throughout the year, and if so that’s fine as you can operate as a part time business.
The best thing you can do is to consult with a small business accountant, who can tell you what your obligations are for this type of business when it comes to setting it up properly with the CRA and the other agencies.
You are going to have to give receipts for your payments, as most parents like to be able to claim their child care expenses.
At the same time you are going to have some expenses of your own. You want to use these to offset against your income so you can reduce the tax that you may owe on this self employed income.
There are specific regulations as to who can run a day care in their home, and how many children you are allowed to take into your care. Make sure that you research these fully so that you are in compliant with them. You may also want to check out to see if you need some additional insurance to protect you.
