Wisconsin Department
of Children and Families - Division
of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration
Wisconsin Shares Handbook
Self-employment income for Wisconsin Shares eligibility is defined in statute as the sum of net earnings reported to the Internal Revenue Service plus depreciation expenses, personal business and entertainment expenses, personal transportation costs, purchases of capital equipment, and payments on the principal of loans. See Process Help 16.2 for further guidance.
| Example: John has been a self-employed construction worker for several years. He generally works many hours during the summer months, and very little during the winter. He applies for Wisconsin Shares in November and provides his previous year’s taxes to verify his yearly income and expenses. His net yearly self-employment income plus disallowed self-employment expenses are divided by 12 to determine a monthly income average. Based on his monthly income, he meets financial eligibility criteria for initial eligibility. John reports on January 7 that he has not worked since December 30. This is a normal fluctuation in his business so there would be no change in the income budgeted. |
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 included a deduction for Sole Proprietorships, S Corporations, and Partnerships. The Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID) is applied after the Standard Deduction. It has no impact on Wisconsin Shares financial eligibility. The QBID is not an expense and must not be included as an expense to offset self-employment income. If the QBID is entered as an expense in error, agency workers must use the Disallowed Expense Override on the CWW Self-Employment page to add the QBID back into the net earnings.
If two (2) married people own a sole proprietorship business and both claim the business as their approved activity, the agency worker must divide both the income and expenses in half. See CWW Process Help Section 16.2.2.9.
This section last updated 12/1/2022