Form 8829: Business Use of Home for Daycare Facilities
Form 8829, titled "Expenses for Business Use of Your Home," is used to calculate allowable expenses for using your home for business purposes, including daycare facilities. If you operate a daycare business from your home, you may be eligible to deduct a portion of your home expenses on Schedule C (Form 1040) using Form 8829.
Eligibility for Daycare Facilities
Daycare facilities are specifically mentioned as a type of business that may qualify for the business use of home deduction. However, there are specific rules and limitations:
- You must use the home exclusively and regularly for daycare operations.
- If you started or stopped using your home for daycare during the year, you must prorate the number of hours based on the number of days the home was available for daycare.
- Do not enter 8,760 hours as a default. Instead, multiply 24 hours by the number of days available and enter the result.
Calculating Business Use Hours
To determine the business use of your home for daycare, you must calculate the total hours the facility was used during the year. For example:
- If your home is used Monday through Friday for 12 hours per day for 250 days, that’s 3,000 hours.
- If it’s also used on 50 Saturdays for 8 hours per day, that’s 400 hours.
- Total: 3,400 hours (entered on Line 4 of Form 8829).
Special Considerations
- Carryover of Expenses: If you used the simplified method in 2024 but are not using it in 2025, you may carry over unallowed expenses from your prior year Form 8829 to your current year Form 8829.
- Reporting Requirements: If you first used your home for business in 2025, you must report certain amounts from Form 8829 on Form 4562, specifically lines 40 and 42, in columns (c) and (g) of line 19j.
- Exclusions: You cannot use Form 8829 if you are claiming actual expenses as a partner or if you are claiming these expenses on Schedule F (Form 1040).
Important Notes
For daycare facilities, ensure that your use of the home is primarily for business purposes. The IRS requires that you maintain records to support your business use hours and expenses. Additionally, if you have multiple homes used for business, you can only use the simplified method for one home.
Source:
Form 8829 - Expenses for Business Use of Your Home
Disclaimer: Always verify details with official Federal or State Department of Revenue Forms and Instructions before filing.