Should I pay my children?

Most business owners involve their children to help with different tasks that promote their business and don’t think to compensate them. It may be stuffing envelopes for marketing, routine shredding of documents, cleaning and dusting of office space, filing, running errands for business. The payment should equate to the activities performed. A 7-year old may not be able to contribute much – so a payment of under $100 per month could be acceptable. A teenager who can now effectively contribute much more in computer skills and other tasks could receive a more substantive hourly/monthly compensation. The importance here is that it is an expense to your business and is much better means to compensate your children for their efforts. The alternative would be to continue to give them your hard-earned after tax dollars as an allowance – and there’s no deduction for that.