Line 455 - Tax credit for childcare expenses
Line 455 - Tax credit for childcare expenses
You can claim the refundable tax credit for childcare expenses if all of the following requirements are met:
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You were resident in Québec on December 31, 2025, or you were resident in Canada, outside Québec, on December 31, 2025, and you carried on a business in Québec in 2025.
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The childcare expenses were incurred for an eligible child (see the definition in Schedule C) while you or your spouse on December 31, 2025 (see the definition at line 12), was:
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carrying out the duties of an office or employment;
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carrying on a business alone or as a partner actively engaged in the business;
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practising a profession;
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carrying out research under a grant;
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actively seeking employment;
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attending a secondary school or taking a course remotely or in person at a qualified educational institution on a full-time or part-time basis;
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receiving benefits under the Québec parental insurance plan (QPIP) or benefits related to a birth or adoption under the Employment Insurance plan.
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You or your spouse on December 31, 2025, paid childcare expenses for 2025 and the child was living with you (or with your spouse) at the time the expenses were incurred.
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The childcare services were provided in Canada by a person resident in Canada, and you paid the person only for services rendered in while you resided in Canada in 2025, unless you were living outside Canada temporarily.
To claim the credit and calculate the amount to enter on line 455, complete Schedule C.
For examples of childcare expenses that do and do not qualify for the credit, see brochure IN-103-V, Refundable Tax Credit for Childcare Expenses.
Qualified educational institution
The following are qualified educational institutions:
a university, college or other institution that offers a post-secondary program where you or your spouse was enrolled in a post-secondary program or occupational skills courses that are not at the postsecondary level;
an institution recognized by us where you or your spouse was enrolled for the purpose of acquiring or upgrading skills necessary for a remunerated activity;
a university outside Canada that you or your spouse attended full time for at least three consecutive weeks (the course of study must lead to a diploma);
an institution in the United States where you or your spouse was enrolled in a post-secondary program, provided you lived in Canada near the U.S. border throughout 2025 and regularly commuted between your home and the institution.
The qualified educational institutions referred to in points 1 and 2 must be located in Canada, unless, during the period for which the childcare expenses were paid, you or your spouse was living outside Canada temporarily.
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NOTE We consider enrolment in a secondary school or in a course in person or remotely at a qualified educational institution to be:
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NOTE Online and correspondence courses You can take courses offered by a qualified educational institution at a distance without any virtual presence at a fixed time or interaction with the professor or the class being required. However, presence (either physical or virtual) is mandatory for courses offered by a secondary school. |
Child with a severe and prolonged impairment in mental or physical functions
You must enclose form TP-752.0.14-V, Certificate Respecting an Impairment, if both of the following conditions are met:
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You or your spouse on December 31, 2025, paid childcare expenses for a child with a severe and prolonged impairment in mental or physical functions.
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The expenses were more than:
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$12,275 if the child was born after December 31, 2018;
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$6,180 if the child was born before January 1, 2019.
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You can enclose a copy of federal form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, instead of form TP-752.0.14-V, unless you are required to provide certification that, due to a chronic disease (other than type 1 diabetes), the child undergoes therapy at least twice a week that is essential to the maintenance of one of their vital functions and that requires at least 14 hours per week. You do not have to enclose either form if you have already submitted form TP-752.0.14-V.
If the child's health has improved since you last filed a document certifying the impairment, you must inform us.
RL-24 slip
Your childcare provider must give you an RL-24 slip to keep as proof that you paid the expenses. Receipts for childcare services are no longer accepted, except in a few specific cases (for example, when fees are paid to a childcare service provider outside Québec).
Note that the reduced contribution set by the government that you paid for childcare services is not covered by the tax credit.
Boarding school or camp
The maximum you can claim for fees paid to a boarding school or camp that provides lodging is:
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$275 per week for an eligible child of any age who has a severe and prolonged impairment in mental or physical functions;
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$200 per week for an eligible child who was six or under on December 31, 2025;
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$125 per week for an eligible child over six years old on December 31, 2025, who
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was under 16 at some point in the year; or
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has a physical or mental infirmity other than a severe and prolonged impairment in mental or physical functions.
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The boarding school or camp must consider the applicable maximum when determining the amount to enter in box E of the RL-24 slip. If there is an error on your RL-24 slip, contact the boarding school or camp that issued it.
Splitting the tax credit for childcare expenses
If you and your spouse on December 31, 2025, want to split the tax credit
for childcare expenses, you can jointly choose the amounts that will be
attributed to each of you. To do so, you must each complete your
own Schedule C and file it with your respective income tax returns.
In Schedule C, you must enter the amount claimed by your spouse
on December 31, 2025, and subtract it from the amount you are claiming.
Note that if you received advance payments and you choose to split the tax credit with your spouse on December 31, 2025, the amount you are entitled to may be less than the advance payments you received. In this case, you may have to repay part of the advance payments you received.
Advance payments of the tax credit for childcare expenses
If you received advance payments of the tax credit for childcare expenses in 2025, enter on line 441 the amount from box C of your RL-19 slip.
You were resident in Canada, outside Québec, on December 31, 2025, and you carried on a business in Québec in 2025
If you were resident in Canada, outside Québec, on December 31, 2025, and you carried on a business in Québec in 2025, contact us for the specific rules that apply.
Tax-exempt individuals
Special rules apply if you or your spouse on December 31, 2025, was exempt from income tax because one of you worked for an international organization, the government of a foreign country or an office of a political subdivision of a foreign state recognized by the Ministère des Finances. For more information, contact us.
You were resident in Canada for only part of the year
Under certain conditions, you can claim the tax credit for childcare expenses if you were in one of the following situations:
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You were resident in Québec on the day you ceased to reside in Canada.
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You were resident in Canada, outside Québec, on the day you ceased to reside in Canada, and you carried on a business in Québec in 2025.
If you were resident in Canada (outside Québec) on the day you ceased to reside in Canada and you carried on a business in Québec during the year before leaving Canada, special rules apply. Contact us for more information.
If, for all or part of the year, you or your spouse on December 31, 2025, was not resident in Canada, you must include, in your family income (Part C of Schedule C), all of the income that you and your spouse earned, including income earned while you or your spouse was not resident in Canada.
Allowance for or reimbursement of childcare expenses from the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale or the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration
If you included allowances for or reimbursements of childcare expenses received from the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale or the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration in calculating your childcare expenses for a previous year, and you are required to repay those amounts, you can ask us to adjust your tax credit for childcare expenses for the year in which you received the allowance or reimbursement. If you want us to do so, complete and file form TP-1.R-V, Request for an Adjustment to an Income Tax Return.
