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@SensibleandHourly wrote:

Also, their former tax advisor allowed them to pay themselves (husband and wife) two hours each day to clean their house after the children left for the day, and then write that 'compensated' time off as an expense.

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They can't claim it as an expense, but they CAN claim those hours as part of their Time/Space percentage for their home office hours.

This book by Tom Copeland is an great resource for what is deductible (but it is aimed at the daycare provider, not necessarily the tax preparer).  Realistically, A LOT is deductible.  In some cases, almost everything.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1605543977/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS...

I do a lot of daycare tax returns, so if you have any questions, let me know.