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Child Care Tax Credits

                                                            by: Metrodaycare.com Staff

Many people ask, "Do I qualify for a child care tax credit?"


Child care tax credits lower your taxes by deducting a percentage of the money spent on child care and thereby lowering the amount of taxes you owe.  This is different from a tax deduction.  Tax deductions only reduce the amount of taxable income, so tax credits are good!

Obviously, if you have visited our child care expenses page or if you are currently paying for child care you know its expensive!  The federal government knows this, so child care tax credits are supposed to help with the financial burden of child care.  You can reduce your tax debt if you qualify for the child care tax credit.  Do you want a bigger tax refund or owe less taxes, then you need to check if you qualify for this tax relief!

What are the rules to receive child care tax credits?



  • Your child must be less than 13 years old

  • You have to be paying someone else to care for your child. This means if your spouse or another child under the age of 19 is watching your child and you're paying them, this credit doesn't apply.

  • Your child care provider can not be a dependent of yours.

  • After school and latch-key programs are tricky. The portion after school does apply but regular school expenses are not included.

  • Finally the care must be provided for you to work or look for work.

  • For those of use who pay for adult daycare expenses for a dependant 13 or older. You can also receive the tax credit if that person in adult daycare is physically or mentally unable to care for themselves.


How much credit will I receive?



You'll receive between 20-35% of the child care costs as a tax credit. Your adjusted gross income determines the percentage amount. A full chart of the percentage is below:

IF your adjusted gross income is:   THEN the
Over: - But not over:   percentage is
$0 - $15,000   35%
$15,000 - $17,000   34%
$17,000 - $19,000   33%
$19,000 - $21,000   32%
$21,000 - $23,000   31%
$23,000 - $25,000   30%
$25,000 - $27,000   29%
$27,000 - $29,000   28%
$29,000 - $31,000   27%
$31,000 - $33,000   26%
$33,000 - $35,000   25%
$35,000 - $37,000   24%
$37,000 - $39,000   23%
$39,000 - $41,000   22%
$41,000 - $43,000   21%
$43,000 - No Limit   20%

As you can see from the above chart, the mininum credit percentage regardless of income is 20%.

Here's some helpful links for more info:

IRS pub 503 -- child care and dependant tax credits

Turbo Tax video on child care tax credit

Ten Things to Know About the Child and Dependent Care Credit

Everyone who qualifies for a child care tax credit should tax advantage of it! Child Care Tax Credits 2011

Child Care Tax Credit Rules


MetroDaycare.com does not in any way endorse or recommend any of the child day care listings found within its site, and cannot be held responsible or liable in any way for your dealings with them. MetroDaycare.com provides this site as a directory to assist you in locating providers in your area, does not own or operate a child day care facility itself, and makes no representation of any of the listings contained within the top level domain MetroDaycare.com. We encourage that you look into any child care provider that you wish to place your children, and we provide this service only as a means of locating child care providers in your area.  Metrodaycare.com does not guarantee the accuracy of listings on its site. However we do strive to keep listings accurate.  Report errors here.
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