Claiming child care expenses

If you pay someone to look after your child so you can work, run a business, go to school or do research under a grant, you can usually deduct those costs on your return. In most two-parent homes, the parent with the lower net income is the one who has to claim them.

Which children count

The expenses have to be for an eligible child, meaning a child who was:

• under 16 at some time in the year, or older but dependent on you or your spouse or common-law partner because of a mental or physical infirmity; and
• your child or your spouse’s or partner’s child, or a child who depended on you or your partner and whose net income for 2025 was $16,129 or less.

The child also has to have lived with you (or with the other person making the claim) when the expenses were incurred.

Expenses you can claim

You can generally include payments to:

• caregivers who look after your child
• daycare centres and day nursery schools
• day camps and day sports schools whose main purpose is caring for children
• boarding schools, overnight camps and overnight sports schools (the amount you can count for these is limited; Form T778 explains how)
• schools, for the part of the fees that covers child care rather than education

The care generally has to be provided in Canada by a Canadian resident. If you live in Quebec, you can also claim the basic contribution you paid directly to a subsidized childcare provider.

Some payments never count:

• payments to the child’s parent, to your spouse or partner if you’re the child’s parent, to someone you or another person claims an eligible dependant or Canada caregiver amount for, or to anyone under 18 who is related to you (paying your 14-year-old to babysit a younger sibling doesn’t qualify)
• medical or hospital care, clothing and transportation
• tuition for a regular school program or a sports study program
• leisure and recreation, such as tennis lessons or Scouts registration
• any amount you or someone else was reimbursed for, or could be, or received financial assistance for

If you hire someone to care for your child in your home, you may have employer responsibilities, and your share of any CPP contributions and EI premiums paid for them counts as a child care expense.

Who claims: usually the lower-income partner

If, at any time in the year and in the first 60 days of the next year, you lived with the child’s other parent, with your spouse or common-law partner (if you’re the child’s parent), or with someone claiming certain dependant amounts for the child, the person with the lower net income (even zero) generally has to claim the expenses.

The person with the higher net income can claim only if, in the year, the lower-income person was:

• enrolled in an eligible educational program at a secondary school, college, university or other designated institution
• unable to care for children because of a mental or physical infirmity, either confined to a bed, wheelchair or hospital for at least two weeks or likely to remain unable indefinitely (a doctor’s statement is needed)
• confined to a prison or similar institution for at least two weeks
• living apart from them because of a breakdown in the relationship for at least 90 days starting in the year and at year-end, with the two of you reconciling within the first 60 days of the next year

When this applies, the higher-income person works out their claim first, and each of you fills out your own Form T778, Child Care Expenses Deduction. If your net incomes are exactly equal, you decide between you who claims.

How much you can deduct

Your deduction is limited to the lowest of three things:

1. what was actually paid for care in the year
2. a yearly maximum for each eligible child, which depends on the child’s age and whether they qualify for the disability tax credit
3. a cap tied to your earned income, which includes salary and wages, self-employment income, taxable scholarships and research grants, and a CPP or QPP disability pension

Form T778 works through these limits, and you claim the result on line 21400 of your return. Extra rules apply when the higher-income person is the one claiming, or when a parent was a student.

A few more points:

• You can only claim expenses for care provided in that year, and you can’t carry unused amounts forward to a later year.
• Get receipts made out to the person who paid. You don’t send them with your return, but keep them in case the CRA asks.
• As a deduction, it lowers the income you’re taxed on. To see roughly what that’s worth in your province, try the income tax calculator.

If you live in Quebec

You still claim the federal deduction. Your Quebec return works differently: Revenu Québec offers a refundable tax credit for childcare expenses, with a rate that depends on your family income (yours plus your spouse’s). Its pages explain how to claim the credit, including advance payments and the RL-24 slip for childcare expenses.

Starting with the 2026 tax year, Quebec is lowering the age limit for an eligible child for this credit from 16 to 14. There is still no age limit for a dependent child with a mental or physical infirmity.