Home Daycare Tax Forms Explained: Schedule C, Form 8829 and Schedule SE
The three main home daycare tax forms in plain words: Schedule C for income and expenses, Form 8829 for your home, and Schedule SE for self-employment tax.
Read this guideDaycare Tax Statements for Parents: Form W-10, Explained for Providers
Every January, the same message lands in your inbox: a parent needs 'something for taxes' showing what they paid you last year. That something is a simple year-end statement with your tax ID on it. This guide explains what parents are really asking for, what Form W-10 has to do with it, and how to give every family a correct statement in minutes.
Why parents ask you for a tax statement
Parents who pay for child care so they can work may be able to claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit on their tax return. Many also pay through a dependent care flexible spending account (FSA) at work and need proof of what they paid. Both routes ask for the same three things about you: your name, your address, and your taxpayer identification number, plus the total they paid you for the year.
Without that information, a parent's credit can be delayed or denied, and their FSA money can be stuck. That is why the request feels urgent every January — it is. The good news is that the statement itself is short and simple, and once you have a system, it takes a few minutes per family.
Good to know: Parents report the amounts on their own tax return. You do not file anything with the IRS for this — you simply give the family the information.
What Form W-10 actually is
Form W-10, 'Dependent Care Provider's Identification and Certification,' is the IRS form a parent may hand you. It asks for your name, address, and taxpayer identification number, and for your signature certifying that the information is correct. The parent keeps the form with their tax records; they do not send it to the IRS.
You are not required to use that exact form. A signed statement from you with the same information works just as well, and most providers find a clean one-page statement easier. Our free Year-End Tax Statement (W-10) Generator builds one for you in your browser — you type the names and the total, and print it or save it as a PDF.
What to put on the statement
A complete statement is short. It needs your details as the provider, the family's details, and one number: the total the family paid you for child care during the tax year. Keep it to one page, print it on your letterhead or plain paper, and sign it.
- Your name and your daycare business name, if you use one
- Your business address — the address where care was provided
- Your EIN (employer identification number) — see the privacy tip below
- The parent or guardian's full name
- The child's full name
- The tax year the statement covers
- The total amount the family paid you for child care that year
- A line stating the payment was for child care services
- Your signature and the date
Good to know: Use an EIN rather than your Social Security number whenever you can. An EIN is free from the IRS, and it keeps your personal number off paper that travels to employers and tax preparers.
A worked example
Say the Johnson family paid you $225 a week for their daughter, and she attended for 50 weeks last year. The total on their statement is $225 times 50, which is $11,250. If a second child from the same family attended at your sibling rate of $202.50 a week for the same 50 weeks, you can either list each child on their own statement or show both children and one combined family total of $21,375 — just make sure the per-child amounts are clear, because the credit is figured per child.
Only include money you actually received during that calendar year. A deposit paid in December for January care belongs to the year you received it in most bookkeeping, and a payment for last December's care that arrived in January belongs to January. When in doubt, match the statement to your deposit records, not to your attendance calendar.
When and how to hand it over
Aim to give every family their statement by January 31. That matches the rhythm of tax season — parents receive their W-2s by then and often file soon after. Giving statements to everyone, without being asked, looks professional and saves you a dozen one-off requests later.
Print two copies: one for the family and one for your own files, or save a PDF with the family's name and the tax year in the file name. Keep your copies with the rest of your tax records for at least three years. If a family has left your program, mail or email the statement to their last known address — they are entitled to it, and they will need it.
Mistakes to avoid
Most statement problems are small but annoying. These are the ones that cause parents to come back asking for corrections.
- Writing your Social Security number when you could use an EIN
- Guessing the yearly total instead of adding up your actual records
- Including money for next year, or leaving out a family that left in June
- Forgetting to sign and date the statement
- Waiting to be asked, then scrambling during the busiest weeks of January
- Charging parents a fee for the statement — do not; it is a normal part of doing business
Try it free: use our Year-End Tax Statement (W-10) Generator — it does this math for you in about a minute, right in your browser.
Common questions
Am I legally required to give parents a tax statement?
The IRS does not require you to file a form, but parents need your name, address, TIN and total paid to claim the child care credit or use FSA funds. A parent who cannot get your information can still try to claim the credit by showing they used due diligence, but most providers simply give the statement — it is quick, professional, and keeps families happy.
Can a parent claim the credit without my EIN?
They may be able to, by writing an explanation showing they tried to get the information. In practice it can slow their refund, which is why parents ask so insistently. Using an EIN on the statement solves it without exposing your Social Security number.
What if a family only attended for part of the year?
Give them a statement for the amount they actually paid during the months they attended. The statement covers payments in that calendar year, whether the child came for two months or twelve.
Keep reading
Daycare Record Keeping: What to Save and How Long to Keep It
Which daycare records to keep and for how long: attendance, meal counts, receipts, mileage logs and tax papers, with a simple system that takes minutes a week.
Read this guideHow to Calculate Your Time-Space Percentage (Step by Step, With Examples)
Learn how to calculate your time-space percentage for home daycare taxes, step by step, with a simple worked example and the IRS rules in plain words.
Read this guideDisclaimer: HomeDaycareTools.com provides free calculators and general information for planning purposes only. Nothing on this site is tax, legal or financial advice. Tax rules, CACFP rates and licensing rules change — confirm your figures with IRS Publication 587, your CACFP sponsoring organization, your state licensing agency, or a qualified tax professional before filing or signing anything.