April 15th! Tax deadline! Are you already being bombarded with requests from parents for your social security number? According to Tom Copeland, an attorney at Resources for Child Caring, it is a parent's responsibility to request information for tax purposes from you. Although you are not required to give out this information without being asked, Mr. Copeland does recommend that in the spirit of cooperation, you give out a receipt worded something like this: "For 1999, Mrs. (parents name) paid me ($ amount) for the care of (child's name). Mr. Copeland further recommends that the provider and parent should both sign the receipt and the provider may add their social security number (or federal tax ID#) to it.
With this method there is no question about how much a parent paid a provider. Both provider and parent should keep copy of the receipt. An alternate method is to use a
Federal W-10 form. Again, it is the parent's responsibility to provide this form to providers, not the provider's responsibility to give it to parents. However, if the parent requests that a provider complete a W-10, which does include a line for provider's SS# or tax ID#, there can be a $50.00 fine for failure to provide accurate information. Once again, in the spirit of cooperation, providers can (and maybe would want to) initiate
W-10's and give them to parents. Mr. Copeland recommends that at no time should providers use their Minnesota Family Child Care License number when providing information for tax purposes. This number means nothing to the IRS and could be confusing, causing possible problems or delays.
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