Thread: Tax Attorney Mags: Preschool Qualified Under Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii)?

Hey tax attorney mags!
So, just knowing only this:
http://www.cushmanscott.org
... do you think it would qualify under Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii)?

Oh, and pictures for everyone else --

Here I am eating Gu on Monday:









Then I returned Tuesday to find that she was emulating my Gu-eating technique -- see, she must be learning something there, I'm so proud of her!

beware of preschools with "educational philosophies"... they will be full of ASD kids and their undiagnosed parents suck up all the teachers/directors time with endless meetings and "class observations".

Just find a nice, safe place that you trust reasonably well to leave your kids while you work and worry about education later.

I kid, but sort of not really...

If its these guys (EIN 04-3211238 Cushman Hill Childrens Center Inc.) you're already good to go under 501(c)(3). If you're giving cash over $250 include a bank record and letter from the school acknowledging receipt with your return.

Even if they didn't qualify as a school under sect. 170 they probably could qualify as a daycare so you'd be okay they're too.

Be advised I am not a tax attorney.

Also your contribution can't be in lieu of tuition and benefit cannot inure to an individual(s).

Originally Posted by jfost

Just find a nice, safe place that you trust reasonably well to leave your kids while you work and worry about education later.

The place is indeed very nice and safe -- she's already been going there a year or so now. (She likes it so much, that often when we pick her up by the 3:30 deadline, she refuses to leave and instead wants to play outside there with all her little friends until they finally kick us out at 5:30 when the playground closes.)

But I should have clarified the issue: not which place to choose, and not whether contributions are tax-deductible.

Instead, gifts are exempt from the IRS limit gift tax limit if they are paid directly to:
-- medical providers for medical services (including premiums for health care plans)
*and/or*
-- educational institutions for tuition

So if Grandma wants to help chip in, the question is whether a place like this is considered the equivalent of babysitting-like daycare (which is *not* exempt from the gift tax limit) or is considered to be an educational institution under Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii)?

Update: I just heard back from the place, and they fully consider themselves to be "educational" under Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii), so that says to me that we could proceed this way in good faith (even if it might be debated under an IRS audit).

More background here:

http://www.hembar.com/media/pnc/8/media.188.pdf
The exclusion may or may not be available for tuition payments made directly to a
nursery, preschool, day care program or camp. In order to be eligible for the exclusion, the
program must be primarily educational rather than custodial in nature. The organization must
maintain a regular faculty and curriculum, have a regularly enrolled body of students, and have
formal instruction as its primary function. For example, a group day care program with a
regular enrollment of children aged 3-6 years, who attended five days a week throughout the
year, operated in an open classroom setting with various groups receiving different
instructions, planned educational activities and problem solving, and where the instruction was
provided by a head teacher and at least two assistants for each classroom, qualified as an
educational organization. In contrast, a family day care program providing child care in the
homes of a staff of child-care trained personnel, including story reading, projects involving
science or art, letters and numbers, did not qualify as an educational organization.

Oh sorry, I erroneously assumed you were making the gift......makes more sense now.

Sorry, no help on whether or not preschool qualifies. Sounds like it could be reasonably argued either way.

aha! sounds like you DO need an "educational philosophy" then, in THAT case, good choice!!!

does look like a nice place, we go to a similar with ours so I am mostly commiserating!