Is it illegal in North Carolina.... "daycare" (Charlotte: insurance, income)

[lasershen111]

Just curious..... is it illegal in North Carolina to have an "agreement" with a neighbor or friend... for one to watch their kid(s) on a regular basis and them pay for it?

Like at what point does it go from babysitting to a "business" where you have to get all sorts of legal crap involved and pay "business" taxes to the government and what not?

Just curious if anyone is familiar with or knows the laws in NC regarding daycare.

[arbyunc]

Off the top of my head, I believe you can keep up to 5 kids (in addition to your own) and not be considered a daycare subject to state rules. I may have the exact number wrong, but there is an exemption if you have only a few kids. I'm sure you can find out with a quick google.

[yellowbelle]

Link to the laws is here:
Child Care Regulations for North Carolina | National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education

Excerpt:
"Child care. – A program or arrangement where three or more children less
than 13 years old, who do not reside where the care is provided, receive care
on a regular basis of at least once per week for more than four hours but less
than 24 hours per day from persons other than their guardians or full-time
custodians, or from persons not related to them by birth, marriage, or
adoption. "

[GCharlotte]

Originally Posted by lasershen111

Just curious..... is it illegal in North Carolina to have an "agreement" with a neighbor or friend... for one to watch their kid(s) on a regular basis and them pay for it?

Like at what point does it go from babysitting to a "business" where you have to get all sorts of legal crap involved and pay "business" taxes to the government and what not?

Just curious if anyone is familiar with or knows the laws in NC regarding daycare.

The last post talks about possible exemption as a business. The other half is taxes. The IRS (and state) want a piece of any income earned.

$600 per year probably is a good bar since that's the 1099 threshold but I'm just stating an opinion. If you ask the IRS if they want you to pay taxes on anything less than the answer is "yes".

If you're making a lot more than that then don't forget you can deduct for business use of a home. You'll want to see a CPA for that as it can be complicated. If the CPA costs more than what you're making then you probably don't have to sweat taxes.

[arbyunc]

yellowbelle, thanks for the correction!

[lasershen111]

Cool! Thanks folks!

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by GCharlotte

The last post talks about possible exemption as a business.
The other half is taxes. The IRS (and state) want a piece of any income earned.

The third half is insurance... property and general liability.

And that "three or more children....receive care on a regular basis of at least once per week..."
means three or more in TOTAL not just three or more at any one time.