Is Giving Free Childcare Deductible?

[melskids]

i was wondering if giving our "time" either as a gift or a loss, is tax deductible. for example.....

i gave one family a free week of childcare for their wedding gift. the child WAS in attendance for the week....

i gave another family a week free to travel for a death in the family. the child was NOT in attendance that week.

can i write this off as a loss in either case, or both?

[Michael]

I'm sure Tom will answer this. IMO, I would think you could only write off the expenses of giving that free care; diapers, food etc and not what you would have normally charged for a child.

[heyhun77]

I'm sure Tom will chime in but I'd think that you would have to enter it as income and then claim the same amount as an expense. That said, it was a gift for a wedding and you are limited to the amount of gift expenses you can claim so that may not be the best choice.

[TomCopeland]

Free child care

When you give parents free child care, or a discount, or a scholarship - you don't report as income money you didn't receive. You also don't report as an expense the free services you provided. The result of this is that you show less income at the end of the year, and therefore you will owe a little less in taxes.

You can deduct any expenses for the unpaid child.

[melskids]

OK...Thanks Tom!