*** Transcriber's Note: Please set your voice synthesizer to read most punctuation. When you encounter the caret sign at the end of a line, please enter the applicable information, if necessary. *** Canada Revenue Agency T778 E (25) (Page 1 of 4) Child Care Expenses Deduction Claiming child care expenses If you are the only person supporting the eligible child, claim the child care expenses that you incurred while the eligible child was living with you. Fill out parts A and B, and Part D if it applies. If you lived with one of the following individuals at any time in 2025 and at any time during the first 60 days of 2026, the person with the lower net income (including zero income) must complete this form: - the eligible child's parent - your spouse or common-law partner, if you are the father or the mother of the eligible child - an individual claiming an amount on line 30400, line 30425, line 30450, or line 30500 of their return for the eligible child If any of the situations in Part C or Part D apply, the child care expenses can either be claimed by the person with the higher net income, or in part by both the person with the higher net income and the person with the lower net income. The person with the higher net income must calculate the claim first. However, both of you must fill out a separate Form T778. If you both have equal net incomes, you must agree on who will claim the child care expenses. If you got married or became a common-law partner in 2025, you and your spouse or common-law partner have to consider your net incomes for the whole year. Include child care expenses you both paid for the whole year. Expenses you can claim You can claim child care expenses that were incurred for services provided in 2025. These include payments made to any of the following: - caregivers providing child care services - day nursery schools and daycare centres - educational institutions, for the part of the fees that relate to child care services - day camps and day sports schools where the primary goal of the camp is to care for children (an institution offering a sports study program is not a sports school) - boarding schools, overnight sports schools, or camps where lodging is involved (see note (1) in Part A of Form T778) The list above is not a complete list of expenses you can claim. For more information, see Income Tax Folio S1-F3-C1, Child Care Expense Deduction. Note: If you were a resident of Quebec, you can also claim the basic contribution you paid directly to the subsidized childcare service provider. When the child care services are provided by an individual, the individual cannot be any of the following: - the eligible child's parent - your spouse or common-law partner, if you are the father or the mother of the eligible child - a person for whom you or another person listed under "Claiming child care expenses" claimed an amount on line 30400, line 30425, line 30450, or line 30500 of your return or their return - a person under 18 years of age who is related to you A person is related to you if they are connected to you by a blood relationship, marriage or common-law partnership, or adoption. For example, your brother, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and your or your spouse's or common-law partner's child are related to you. However, your niece, nephew, aunt, and uncle are not. Supporting documents: The individual or organization who received the payments must give you a receipt showing information about the services provided. When the child care services are provided by an individual, you will need their social insurance number. If you are filing online, keep all your documents in case the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) asks to see them later. If you are filing a paper return, attach your completed Form T778, but do not send your other supporting documents. Keep all your documents in case the CRA asks to see them later. Note: If you paid an individual to provide child care in your home, you may have some responsibilities as an employer. If Canada pension plan contributions and employment insurance premiums have been paid for an individual to provide child care in your home, the share that you have paid is also considered a child care expense. Expenses you cannot claim You cannot claim payments for any of the following: - medical or hospital care, clothing, or transportation costs - fees relating to education costs at an educational institution, such as tuition fees of a regular program or a sports study program - fees for leisure or recreational activities, such as tennis lessons or the annual registration for Scouts You cannot claim child care expenses that you or another person were (or is entitled to be) reimbursed for or that you or another person received (or is entitled to receive) financial assistance for. For example, this includes the hiring credit for small business and small business job credit received under the Employment Insurance Act. If your employer paid the child care expenses on your behalf, you can claim the part of the expenses included in your income for the year. T778 E (25) (Page 2 of 4) Other situations When completing the return for a person who died in 2025, you can claim eligible child care expenses that were paid while that person was living with the eligible child as if they were the only person supporting the child. If there was another person living with the child, that person may also be considered the only person supporting the child and can claim eligible child care expenses paid while living with the child, as long as the expenses were not claimed on the return of another person. If you lived outside Canada for all or part of 2025 and the CRA considers you to be a factual resident or deemed resident of Canada, you can claim child care expenses that you paid to a non-resident person for services provided outside Canada. For more information on these residency status, go to canada.ca/cra-determining-residency-status. For information on other situations where you can claim child care expenses paid for services provided outside Canada (for example, commuters to the United States), contact the CRA. If you immigrated to or emigrated from Canada in 2025, you can claim child care expenses for the period that you were in Canada as long as you qualify. Definitions Child care expenses Child care expenses are amounts you or another person paid to have someone look after an eligible child so that you or the other person could: - earn income from employment - carry on a business alone or as an active partner - attend school under the conditions of an educational program - carry on research or similar work for which you or the other person received a grant The child must have lived with you or the other person when the expense was incurred for the expense to qualify. Usually, you can only deduct payments for services provided in Canada by a Canadian resident. Read "Other situations" above for exceptions. Eligible child Child care expenses can only be claimed for an eligible child. An eligible child is: - your or your spouse's or common-law partner's child - a child who was dependent on you or your spouse or common-law partner, and whose net income in 2025 was $16,129 or less The child must have been under 16 years of age at some time in the year. However, the age limit does not apply if the child had a mental or physical infirmity and was dependent on you or your spouse or common-law partner. Net income Your net income and the other person's net income are used to determine who can claim the child care expenses. This is the amount from line 23600 of each of your returns not including amounts for child care expenses (line 21400) or social benefits repayment (line 23500). Earned income Your earned income of line 6 is the total of the following: - employment income (including tips and gratuities, and the non-taxable part of an allowance received as an emergency volunteer) - other amounts included in computing employment income such as employment benefits and employee security options benefits - net self-employment income, either alone or as an active partner (do not include losses) - the taxable portion of scholarships, bursaries, fellowships and similar awards, and net research grants - any earnings supplement received under a project sponsored by the Government of Canada to encourage employment or sponsored under Part II of the Employment Insurance Act or any similar program - disability benefits received from the Canada Pension Plan or the Quebec Pension Plan - amounts received under the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant program and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant program, administered by Employment and Social Development Canada - any federal, provincial, or territorial government COVID-19 payments received in the year for which you have received a T4A or T4E - amounts that may be declared to be exempt from income due to other statutes or enactment of Parliament or because they are payments for emergency services volunteers For more information on what is considered earned income, see Income Tax Folio S1-F3-C1, Child Care Expense Deduction. Educational program An educational program must be offered by a secondary school, college, university, or other designated educational institution. This includes any institution certified by the Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada for courses that develop or improve occupational skills. An eligible program must last at least three consecutive weeks. A full-time educational program requires students to spend at least 10 hours a week on courses or work in the program. A part-time educational program requires students to spend at least 12 hours in a calendar month on courses in the program. If you need help For help with common topics, current contact centre wait times, and links to online self-serve options, go to canada.ca/cra-contact. Teletypewriter (TTY) and Video Relay Service (VRS) users If you use a TTY for a hearing or speech impairment, call 1-800-665-0354. Register with Canada VRS to download the app, by going to srv canadavrs.ca/en/get-the-app, and call the VRS line. If you use another operator-assisted relay service, call the CRA's regular telephone numbers instead of the TTY or Canada VRS numbers. T778 E (25) (Page 3 of 4) Canada Revenue Agency Protected B when completed Child Care Expenses Deduction Part A - Total child care expenses First name, last name and date of birth for each eligible child, even if you did not pay child care expenses for each of them. *** Transcriber's Note: For Part A, please enter as many lines as necessary for the following. *** First name ^ Last name ^ Date of birth (Year/Month/Day) ^ *** Transcriber's Note: In print, the following text is set up in four columns, however there is space for five entries for each column. *** First name of each eligible child whom payments were made for ^ Child care expenses paid (Note 1) ^ Name of the child care organization or name and social insurance number of the individual who received the payments ^ Number of weeks for boarding schools or overnight camps ^ Line 67950: Total (add all entries for Child care expenses paid) = ^ Note 1: The maximum amount you can claim for expenses that relate to boarding school stays (other than education costs) and overnight camps (including an overnight sports school) is any of the following amounts: - $200 per week for a child included on line 1 - $275 per week for a child included on line 2 - $125 per week for a child included on line 3 Line 67954: Enter the amount of expenses included above that were incurred in 2025 for a child who was 6 years of age or younger at the end of 2025 and living with you when the expenses were incurred. ^ Part B - Basic limit for child care expenses Line 1: Number of eligible children born in 2019 or later whom the disability amount cannot be claimed for ^ multiplied by $8,000 = ^ Line 2 and line 67960: Number of eligible children born in 2025 or earlier whom the disability amount can be claimed for (Note 2) ^ multiplied by $11,000 = ^ Note 2: Attach Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate. If it has already been filed for the child, attach a note to your paper return showing the name and social insurance number of the person who filed Form T2201 and the tax year it was filed for. Line 3: Number of eligible children born in 2009 to 2018 (and born in 2008 or earlier with a mental or physical infirmity whom the disability amount cannot be claimed for) ^ multiplied by $5,000 = ^ Line 4: Add lines 1 to 3. = ^ Line 5: Enter the amount from line 67950. ^ Line 6: Enter your earned income. ^ multiplied by two-thirds = ^ Line 7: Enter whichever amount is the least: line 4, line 5 or line 6. ^ If you are the person with the higher net income, continue at Part C. Leave lines 8 and 9 blank. Line 8: Enter the amount that the other person with the higher net income entered on line 21400 of their 2025 return. ^ Line 9: Line 7 minus line 8. If you attended school in 2025 and are the only person making a claim, continue at Part D. If not, enter this amount on line 21400 of your return. Allowable deduction = ^ T778 E (25) (Page 4 of 4) Part C - You are the person with the higher net income Fill out this part and tick the boxes that applied if, in 2025, the other person with lower net income was in any of the situations below. *** Transcriber's Note: For the following boxes a) to f), please enter an "X" to the applicable. *** a) The other person attended school and was enrolled in a part-time educational program. ^ b) The other person attended school and was enrolled in a full-time educational program. ^ c) The other person was not capable of caring for children because of a mental or physical infirmity. (That person must have been confined for a period of at least two weeks to a bed or wheelchair, or as a patient in a hospital or other similar institution. Attach a statement from a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner certifying this information.) ^ d) The other person was not capable of caring for children because of a mental or physical infirmity and this situation is likely to continue for an indefinite period. (Attach a statement from a medical doctor or a nurse practitioner certifying this information.) ^ e) The other person was confined to a prison or similar institution for a period of at least two weeks. ^ f) You and your spouse or common-law partner were, due to a breakdown in your relationship, living separate and apart at the end of 2025 and for a period of at least 90 days beginning in 2025, but you reconciled within the first 60 days of 2026. ^ Name of person with lower net income ^ Social insurance number (enter 9 digit number) ^ Net income ^ Line 10: Enter the amount from line 4. ^ multiplied by 2.5% = ^ Line 11: Multiply the amount on line 10 by the number of weeks in 2025 that b) to f) applied. ^ Line 12: Multiply the amount on line 10 by the number of months in 2025 that a) applied (except for any month that includes a week used to calculate the amount on line 11). ^ Line 13 and line 67980: Line 11 plus line 12 = ^ Line 14: Enter whichever is less: amount from line 7 or line 13. If you attended school in 2025, continue at Part D. If not, enter this amount on line 21400 of your return. Allowable deduction ^ Part D - You were enrolled in an educational program in 2025 Fill out this part if, at any time in 2025, you were either: - the only person supporting the eligible child, line 7 equals line 6, and you were enrolled in an educational program - the person with the higher net income, line 7 equals line 6, and, at the same time in 2025, you and the other person were enrolled in an educational program. (Fill out Part C.) Note: Part D does not apply to the person with the lower net income because the other person will claim this part of the deduction for both of you. Line 15: Enter the amount from line 4. ^ multiplied by 2.5% = ^ Line 16: Multiply the amount on line 15 by the number of weeks in 2025 that you were enrolled in a full-time educational program. (If there was another person, they must also have been enrolled in a full-time educational program during the same weeks.) ^ Line 17: Multiply the amount on line 15 by the number of months in 2025 (except for any month that includes a week used to calculate the amount on line 16) where either: - You were enrolled in a part-time educational program and there was no other person - You and the other person were enrolled in a full-time or part-time educational program during the same months ^ Line 18 and line 67990: Line 16 plus line 17 = ^ Line 19: Line 4 minus whichever applies: line 9 or line 14 ^ Line 20: Line 5 minus whichever applies: line 9 or line 14 ^ Line 21: Enter your net income (not including lines 21400 and 23500 of your return). ^ multiplied by two-thirds = ^ Line 22: If you filled out Part C: line 13 minus line 6 ^ Line 23: Enter whichever is less: line 18, line 19, line 20, line 21 or line 22 if it applies. ^ Line 24: Enter whichever amount applies: line 9 or line 14. ^ Line 25: Line 23 plus line 24 Enter this amount on line 21400 of your return. Allowable deduction = ^ See the privacy notice on your return.