Tax Professional? Turbo Tax? I'm lost.

[NillaWafers]

So before I started this daycare thing, I just used turbo tax - but the business version since my hubby is a graphic designer and is often 1099d. Has anyone used turbo tax? Is it even possible?

If not, I guess I need to look at finding someone to do my taxes that is experienced with this business and is in my area - are there any resources for that? Thanks!

[snbauser]

If you are going to try and use Turbo Tax, go to Tom Copeland's blog and read up on what what you can and can't do with the software.

[TomCopeland]

turbotax

So before I started this daycare thing, I just used turbo tax - but the business version since my hubby is a graphic designer and is often 1099d. Has anyone used turbo tax? Is it even possible?

If not, I guess I need to look at finding someone to do my taxes that is experienced with this business and is in my area - are there any resources for that? Thanks!

Read my articles on TurboTax:http://tomcopelandblog.com/a-guide-t...ax-2015-part-i

[Thriftylady]

I use Turbo tax. It did take some adjustment for me because the last time I did daycare taxes 12 years ago I did them on paper. The thing that is harder for me about turbo tax is I don't have all the forms right there in front of me at once. But once you have done it once, it is easier next time. Tom Copeland is a great resource!

[Lovisa]

2015 was my first year as a daycare provider. I was worried about taxes too and didn't particularly want to pay an arm and a leg to have a tax pro do our taxes for us. My husband and I have always used H&RBlock for our taxes but up until now, they have been super simple since we only had his W2 to deal with. This year was different, obviously.

First thing I did was utilize Minute Menu Kids. That made it easy to track expenses, meals, time space percentage, etc. I also bought Tom Copelands 2015 tax workbook which has a plethora of information! We ended up using Turbo Tax business and completed our own taxes just the other day. If you read the few articles Tom has about using TT, there are a few tricky things to know, but really, it wasn't too difficult. If took us, maybe 45 minutes longer to do our taxes than it normally does. TT really does walk you through everything fairly thoroughly.

I thought it would be IMPOSSIBLE to do our own, but it wasn't that bad at all

[NillaWafers]

I use Turbo tax. It did take some adjustment for me because the last time I did daycare taxes 12 years ago I did them on paper. The thing that is harder for me about turbo tax is I don't have all the forms right there in front of me at once. But once you have done it once, it is easier next time. Tom Copeland is a great resource!

I use minute menu already, I agree it's terrific. Thanks for the link to the blog posts, this will help immensely. I normally do my taxes ASAP, then sit on them forever as I check double check and triple check that they're right LOL.

[NillaWafers]

Another question:
Since I have been working on opening my daycare since 2013, I have some expenses from then that I think I can deduct. However, some are time/space because they are toys, scissors, supplies ect. I should use the time/space from 2015 (since the other years are effectively 0% yes?). In turbo tax it asks about startup costs but only provides one window so I'm not sure if I should just add all these up.

[Thriftylady]

Tom Copeland has something written up for expenses before you start caring for children. I don't want to quote it because I am confused by it since it didn't really apply to me, I didn't dig deeper. But I know he has the info out there.

[NillaWafers]

I tried searching for it but I must be using the wrong search terms

[Thriftylady]

Let me look around I may have it in one of his books.

[Thriftylady]

Another question:
Since I have been working on opening my daycare since 2013, I have some expenses from then that I think I can deduct. However, some are time/space because they are toys, scissors, supplies ect. I should use the time/space from 2015 (since the other years are effectively 0% yes?). In turbo tax it asks about startup costs but only provides one window so I'm not sure if I should just add all these up.

Okay I think that to claim the T/S for 2013, you will have to go back and amend that return. I don't think you can use this years T/S numbers. Generally income is to be counted in the year it is earned, and expenses should be deducted in the year spent. There could be a special rule here I don't know about.

Tom Copeland does say that you can start claiming T/S deductions from the time you are ready to take kids (so you start advertising etc and are ready to enroll),

So if you get your license in June and are not ready to take kiddos until August, your business starts in August. Things like scissors would be 100% deductible if they were purchased for the children's use, or only for your daycare use. If you bought them for your general office supplies that you share with family for other reasons then they would be T/S.

[NillaWafers]

Okay I think that to claim the T/S for 2013, you will have to go back and amend that return. I don't think you can use this years T/S numbers. Generally income is to be counted in the year it is earned, and expenses should be deducted in the year spent. There could be a special rule here I don't know about.

Tom Copeland does say that you can start claiming T/S deductions from the time you are ready to take kids (so you start advertising etc and are ready to enroll),

So if you get your license in June and are not ready to take kiddos until August, your business starts in August. Things like scissors would be 100% deductible if they were purchased for the children's use, or only for your daycare use. If you bought them for your general office supplies that you share with family for other reasons then they would be T/S.

Oh that's a huge bummer, I've been buying supplies since I decided I'd be opening a home daycare. There is a ton! I don't think amending a past return would even help since I got huge returns from those years already

[ChelseaB]

I've always done my own taxes using Turbotax, including daycare. You have to purchase the Business program as someone else mentioned, but once you select that you are a daycare provider, it more or less walks you through everything! It will calculate your T/S %, and it guides you easily. You have the option of going back and picking and choosing what you want to work on. The only con I found was that the program was $80 (I believe it's $117 originally, so there was a deal), but that cost did not include state taxes. I had to pay an extra $40 to transfer and file them as well, to keep from reentering everything. That was more of an annoyance really...I figured if I was already paying, it seemed unethical to throw that surprise in there -- live and learn! Otherwise, very smooth, simple process.

[TomCopeland]

start up

Another question:
Since I have been working on opening my daycare since 2013, I have some expenses from then that I think I can deduct. However, some are time/space because they are toys, scissors, supplies ect. I should use the time/space from 2015 (since the other years are effectively 0% yes?). In turbo tax it asks about startup costs but only provides one window so I'm not sure if I should just add all these up.

Add up all expenses before 2015 and report as one item. Use your time-space % from 2015 for those that were used both business and personal.

[Thriftylady]

Add up all expenses before 2015 and report as one item. Use your time-space % from 2015 for those that were used both business and personal.

Wow that is great news for the OP on that!