Tom Copeland has written over 1500 articles on this website and it’s probably overwhelming to try to sort through all of them. Here’s 125 of the best of these articles. The articles cover the topics of: Record Keeping and Taxes Contracts and Policies Marketing Legal & Insurance Issues Money Management and Retirement You are free to download, copy and share these articles with anyone. Organizations can post them on their website. Trainers can use them as handouts in their workshops. Share away! The organization of these articles was made possible by the National Center on Early Childhood ..read more

  http://tomcopelandblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Shonate-pay-yourself.mp4   Providers often ask why they should pay themselves – and how they should do it. Shontae Hightower, one of our Early Child Care Business Coaches, talks about that in this video.  More information: What Does It Mean to Pay Yourself With a Stabilization Grant? Paying Yourself: A Guide for Sole Proprietors The post Video: Learn More About Paying Yourself appeared first on ..read more

http://tomcopelandblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Welcome-video-from-Gary.mp4 Since taking over this blog, our team from Civitas Strategies Early Start has had a chance to get to know some of you, Tom Copeland’s loyal readers. Now it’s your turn to get to know some of us. Our President and CEO Gary Romano made this video so you can get to know a little bit about him. And stay tuned: we’ll be sharing videos from other members of our team soon! The post Welcome from Gary Romano! appeared first on ..read more

By: Gary Romano Breaking news from the IRS that can increase your 2022 deductions: In light of the increasing cost of gas, the IRS standard mileage rate has increased to 62.5 cents per mile for travel from July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.  Mileage from January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022 will still be at the previously set rate of 59.5 cents per mile.  As a reminder, you can count a trip as a business trip if the “primary” purpose of the trip is business. Primary purpose means that more than 50% of the reason for the trip is business. To learn more, read Tom Copeland’s post about cla ..read more

I’ve created two online, self-directed classes to help family child care providers be more successful in their business. The classes are free. Family Child Care Record Keeping and Taxes After completing this class, you will be able to: • Keep accurate business records. • Track your business income. • Deduct your business expenses. • Calculate your time-space percentage. • Depreciate your home and home improvements. • Follow special rules for claiming vehicle and food expenses.   Family Child Care Contracts & Policies After completing this class, you will be able to: *Establish a busi ..read more

Here’s your quarterly reminder that your federal estimated tax payment is almost due! June 15th is the deadline for family child care providers to file their federal estimated tax payment for the second quarter of the year. Your second quarter payment includes the months of April and May. Your third quarter payment will include the months of June, July, and August, while the fourth quarter will include the months of September, October, November and December. (Yes, the tax quarters for estimated taxes are not equal!) To determine your business profit, add up your income for April and May (paren ..read more

A recording of the webinar “Money Management & Retirement with Tom Copeland” is now available. In this webinar I covered how family child care providers can save more money for retirement and will learn how to invest using the various IRA plans available. In addition, I spoke on how to: Identify ways to reduce expenses. Recognize where to put money to meet short- and long-term goals. Prioritize long-term financial goals. Understand the five basic rules of retirement planning. Gain knowledge about IRA retirement plans for providers (e.g., traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SIMPLE, SEP). Here’s a ..read more

Tom Copeland It’s time for me to say so long and introduce the new organization that will be taking over the management and expansion of this blog. I started this blog in September 2010 with the intention to create a resource library to help family child care providers be more successful as a business. Since then, I’ve posted over 1,600 articles that have reached hundreds of thousands of providers and organizations that serve them. I’ve greatly enjoyed writing these articles and responding to tens of thousands of questions from providers over the phone, Facebook and email over the years. But ..read more

Here’s how to easily access the most important resources created by Tom Copeland. Over the years I’ve written over 1,500 articles and handouts, delivered numerous webinars and online classes and created videos and other resources for family child care providers and those organizations that support them. Below is a directory highlighting the most important of these resources. You are free to download them, copy them and distribute them to anyone you wish, as long as you do not charge a fee for their use. Articles Here are the most important articles on each of the following topic areas. Contra ..read more

I’ve created a new publication for new family child care providers. It describes the most important aspects of becoming a successful family child care business. You are free to distribute this to anyone. Here is a PDF copy of the entire publication. I will be posting sections of the publication over the next five weeks.   Getting Started in the Business of Family Child Care Congratulations on becoming a family child care provider! You are among a special group of individuals who have chosen the profession of caring for young children. You have chosen this work because you love children ..read more