European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine cares a Lynda w. Sparks preschoolers tune in to cartoons at the Home of a child care provider. This is the third in the stars and stripes five Day series on child care. By Deedee Arrington Doke staff writer prepare for a few tax complications if you provide family Day care services in your  Day care is a business. Each business has certain income reporting and tax responsibilities As Well As social Security payments to make in some cases. Complicating the tax picture for americans overseas who either work out of their Homes As child care providers or hire in Home help is foreign tax liability to some european countries where there Are . Bases. As far As . Tax Laws Are involved there s Good news for providers earning less than $70,000 annually. Foreign earned income up to $70,000 per year May be excluded from . Taxes provided it was not earned by working for the . Government. To take the exclusion care providers must file internal Revenue service form 2555. However providers must pay 12.3 percent of their income in social Security taxes picking up both the employer s and employee s portion of the tax and file an irs schedule be connoting self employment. In addition providers Are in fact operating a business which requires they maintain business records reflecting expenses clothing diapers toys food anything they re required to spend said Jerry Shiles a 21st theater army area come Legal adviser. Shiles helped create a tax education element to family Day care certification programs in the Kaiserslautern military Community in West Germany. Many of the people providing the care Aren t keeping those kinds of records he said. But those complications Pale in comparison with the complexities of foreign tax liability for . Care providers and americans who hire live in help while residing abroad. Several european governments prefer to ignore the question altogether allowing Small scale american child care operations to exist with Little enforcement from local taxing officials. West Germany on the other hand is taking a greater interest in collecting its due from Small Home run businesses operated by americans overseas including child care. In fact Shiles said the Finan amt tax office in one of the Southern states actually contacted the military and said provide us a list of All your certified providers because we want to see if we re getting our fair share of the Money " the military declined that request Shiles said saying it could not fulfil it. At this Point Shiles said he expected the West germans to wait until the irs has the capability of collating a listing of individuals filing the foreign earned income exclusion from a specific area before attempting a major Effort to catch up with tax evaders. They re not going to put a lot of legwork into it. If it s something they can aggressively seek through correspondence i think they la do it. But they re not going to Send 15 or 30 investigators out to scour the Countryside Shiles said. He cautioned however that German authorities Check Community bulletin boards for possible leads to people Selling services. Many americans Don t pay German taxes because they Don t realize they Are required to. Once we Tell them they re Messing with fire they re pretty Quick to run to a German tax preparer and make sure they re Legal. They Don t want to get into serious trouble go to jail or wind up having their property repossessed or  the following is general tax information provided for other european countries with . Installations. For detailed information Contact local . Legal authorities. Belgium Legal authorities at Florenne a Belgium say a general practice excludes baby Sitters who Are either members of the family or students who baby sit occasionally from paying income and social Security taxes. However people who provide child care As a business Are liable for belgian taxes a base spokesman said. Live in nannies Are classified As Domestic employees and Are subject to the same taxing regulations As other employees. In some municipalities a special tax is charged to individuals who employ Domestic help. The employer withholds income taxes and pays situation family Day care is a business them to the ministry of finance. Consult base Legal authorities for More information. Greece no information available at this time due to negotiations under Way Between . And greek governments on terms of the United states leases of installations there. Italy italian Law requires workers who Are not citizens of a european economic Community country to obtain work permits. The government policy is to Issue these permits to non dec foreigners Only when a Job cannot be filled by an italian. Given this Law . Navy authorities provide no direction or regulation for americans who would want to open their Homes to other people s children As a business. Americans who employ child care providers have multiple responsibilities in Italy. They include wages compulsory contributions to social Security and health insurance a yearly Bonus equivalent to one month s wages two weeks of paid vacation per. Year and Severance pay equivalent to one month s pay for each year s work even if the employee Only works one hour a week once a regular rapport has been established. No private or written agreement can overrule this Law. Netherlands child care providers who take care of children at Home and live in nannies Are liable for dutch taxes according to a dutch Legal adviser at the . Military Community activity Schinnen Netherlands. In Small scale child care operations in which there is not a binding contract Between parents and providers the parents Are not obligated to pay any taxes on behalf of the care provider. Spain there Are no Spanish tax obligations for americans providing Day care in . Military quarters. Neither employer nor live in employee is required to pay Spanish taxes. However employers must make a monthly social Security contribution of 7,727 pesetas about $60 per month for a Domestic servant such As a child care provider employed full time. Employers who fail to make those payments May be held liable for a maximum of 30,000 pesetas about $250 per Day of hospitalization if the employee becomes ill. Turkey there Are no turkish tax obligations either for americans providing Day care in their Homes or for americans who employ turks As Domestic help in their Homes according to sgt. Neil Woods of the in Ciurlik a Public affairs office. United kingdom any employment on the British Economy including Domestic help May potentially involve payment of . Taxes according to Lyndon James Deputy chief of International Law 3rd air Force Raf Mildenhall England. The Burden of collecting those taxes can be on the employer. Consult base Legal authorities for More information. West Germany americans who provide Day care services out of their Homes Are liable for German taxes they typically pay a Flat rate based on income earned from the business since non germans usually do not qualify for most tax Breaks according to Shiles. Since care providers Are self employed they can elect whether to pay into the German social Security system. If they choose to pay but later leave Germany and do not intend to return they May request a refund of the Money paid into the system. What we re telling everyone is go see a German tax adviser. And be aware that you Are liable for the German taxes Shiles said. For live in help German Law presumes an income of at least 480 Marks per month purely for the value of living in the Home. For employees paid More than 430 Marks a month which Means live in help must pay taxes on at least 50 Marks the employer must pay into the German unemployment system and pay German social Security taxes. Failing to do so can result in a Fine for the employer. German income taxes also must be withheld from live in employees salaries and the employer must ensure that the employee has a German tax certificate. Friday a Model child care Center. Contributing to this report were staff writers Alba Bragoli Mediterranean Bureau Janet d Agostino in Darmstadt Dave Diehl . Bureau Mark Walsh Pitburg Bureau. Wednesday january 11, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13