What to take away
- In most two-parent households the spouse or partner with the lower net income claims the deduction, with specific exceptions.
- Each child has a dollar limit, and your claim is also capped at two-thirds of your earned income.
- Camps, schools and caregivers are treated differently, and receipts from individuals must show a social insurance number.
What the deduction is and who it is for
Child care expenses are amounts paid to have someone else look after an eligible child so that you, or the person you live with, can earn employment income, carry on a business, do research under a grant or attend an eligible educational program. You claim the deduction on line 21400 of your return, calculated on Form T778.
The child must generally be yours or your spouse’s or common-law partner’s, or a child who depends on you and whose net income was low (the CRA’s 2025 form uses $16,129 or less). The child must be under 16 at some point in the year, although that age test does not apply where the child has a mental or physical infirmity and depends on you. The child also must have lived with you or the other claimant when the expense was incurred.
Who should claim it when there are two parents
If you lived with the child’s other parent, or with a spouse or partner, the person with the lower net income, including zero income, generally has to claim the deduction. If your net incomes are equal, you agree between you who claims. Net income here means line 23600 without the child care deduction or the social benefits repayment.
The higher-income person can claim only in defined situations, such as the other person attending school in an eligible program, being unable to care for children because of illness or disability, being confined to a prison or similar institution for at least two weeks, or a separation of at least 90 days that ended in reconciliation within the first 60 days of the next year. In those cases the amount is limited and the form needs extra parts and, for illness, a statement from a medical doctor or nurse practitioner. If you married or became common-law partners during the year, you both look at the whole year’s net income.
The per-child limits and the two-thirds cap
Part B of the 2025 Form T778 sets a basic limit per child. It is $8,000 for each eligible child born in 2019 or later (for whom the disability amount cannot be claimed), $5,000 for each child born from 2009 to 2018, and $11,000 for a child for whom the disability amount can be claimed, which requires Form T2201. Older children with an infirmity who do not qualify for the disability amount fall under the $5,000 limit. Check the 2026 form when it is released, since these figures are published each year.
Your deduction is the least of three amounts: the total of those limits, the child care you actually paid, and two-thirds of your earned income. Earned income includes employment income, net self-employment income and certain grants, and does not include business losses. Unused amounts cannot be carried forward, and the claim is for services provided in the tax year only.
An illustrative example
These numbers are illustrative only. Imagine a lower-income parent with earned income of $30,000, one child born in 2021, and $9,500 of eligible daycare receipts for the year. The per-child limit is $8,000, the amount paid is $9,500 and two-thirds of earned income is $20,000. The least of the three is $8,000, so that is the deduction.
Now change the earned income to $9,000. Two-thirds of that is $6,000, which becomes the cap even though the child’s limit and the receipts are higher. This is why part-year work, parental leave and low self-employment income can reduce a claim, and why the earned-income figure is worth checking before you rely on a receipt total.
Eligible and ineligible expenses
Payments you can generally include are those made to caregivers, day nursery schools and daycare centres, the child care part of fees at an educational institution, day camps and day sports schools whose main purpose is looking after children, and boarding schools, overnight sports schools or camps that involve lodging. The CRA says its list is not complete, and Income Tax Folio S1-F3-C1 gives further detail.
Payments you cannot include are those for medical or hospital care, clothing and transportation, tuition and similar education fees, and leisure or recreational activities such as tennis lessons or annual Scouts registration. Anything you or another person were reimbursed for, or are entitled to be reimbursed for, also drops out. If your employer paid the cost on your behalf, you can claim the part that was included in your income.
Day camps versus overnight camps
A day camp or day sports school can qualify when its primary goal is to care for children, and the amount you paid goes into Part A of the form, where your overall limits still apply. A program that is mainly instruction in a sport or a skill may be treated as recreation instead. When a camp is mixed, ask the provider how it describes its purpose and what its receipt states.
Overnight camps, boarding schools and overnight sports schools have a weekly ceiling in addition to the annual limits. On the 2025 form it is $200 per week for a child in the $8,000 group, $275 per week for a child in the $11,000 group and $125 per week for a child in the $5,000 group. You record the number of weeks on the form. Education costs at a boarding school are excluded in any event.
Receipts, provider SIN and caregivers in your home
The organization or individual who was paid must give you a receipt showing the services provided. For an individual, the receipt should show their social insurance number. The receipt can be in your name or your spouse’s or common-law partner’s name. File online and keep everything in case the CRA asks; file on paper and attach Form T778 but not the receipts.
A person you pay cannot be the child’s parent, your spouse or partner where you are the child’s parent, a person claimed on line 30400, 30425, 30450 or 30500, or someone under 18 who is related to you. Your own teenager caring for a sibling is a common example. If you pay someone to care for the child in your home, you may have employer responsibilities, and the CPP contributions and EI premiums you pay for them count as child care expenses.
What to bring and when to ask for help
Bring annual receipts from each provider, the weeks of any overnight camp, each child’s date of birth, a copy of Form T2201 if a child has an approved disability amount, and both partners’ income details. If one of you studied, bring proof of enrolment dates. Also bring notice of any reimbursement or employer-paid benefit.
Ask for help when the lower-income rule does not fit your situation, when a camp’s purpose is unclear, when you paid a relative, or when a separation, move or immigration changes who supported the child. Our guide on what to bring for a personal return lists the broader slips, and the personal tax service page explains how Sora can review a return.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources checked October 24, 2026. The examples are illustrative and provide general information. Discuss how the guidance applies to your circumstances with your accountant.
- Line 21400 – Child care expensesCanada Revenue Agency
- Child care expenses: who is eligibleCanada Revenue Agency
- Child care expenses: expenses you can claimCanada Revenue Agency
- Child care expenses: who can claim the deductionCanada Revenue Agency
- Child care expenses: how to claimCanada Revenue Agency
- Form T778, Child Care Expenses DeductionCanada Revenue Agency
Rules and guidance can change. Use the current official source and confirm the treatment for your facts. To flag an error, contact Sora.