Daycare Cost Calc Find local costs

A childcare budget tool

Dependent care FSA vs. tax credit.

Compare federal tax benefits with the rules for 2025 and 2026.

Your details

All amounts in USD

Care cost prefilled from Nevada County. Edit it to match your quote.

Source 2022 · CPI adjusted to August 2026

Tax assumptions

An editable effective rate; state tax credits are not modeled.

Income and eligible expenses

The FSA is assumed to reduce this worker’s taxable wages.

Joint and separate returns use the lower earned income; ignored otherwise.

One qualifying person or two or more.

The federal cap is $7,500 in 2026 and $5,000 in 2025; half for separate returns.

Before the modeled FSA savings. Default: standard-deduction tax before other credits.

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The next step

Make the numbers your own.

Enter your income and confirmed care costs, then calculate to see the result and the steps behind it.

Credit only alongside FSA savings and an optimized combination

What’s included?

2025 and 2026 federal care credit rules, earned-income caps, the FSA exclusion, standard-deduction federal income tax savings, employee payroll-tax savings and your state-tax assumption.

The optimizer checks tax and credit boundaries. It does not model itemized deductions, state care credits, student or incapacity deemed income, or special separate-return exceptions.

Read the source and rules

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