Today I learned that child care costs are not claimed as a non-refundable tax credit, but as a deduction from income on line 214 of the personal tax return.
Although I have had child care expenses in past years, I have never had the proper sort of income from which to deduct them. Self-employment made me ineligible to benefit.
While I did have a little bit of proper employment income in 2009, it was so low that all income tax deducted at source was refunded by the government when I filed my return.
In 2010, a year in which I spent $10600 on child care for my youngest and $2303 for my eldest, my primary source of income has been through my role as full-time employee.
That's the biggest annual child care expense I've incurred to date, and it's probably the peak. It will drop considerably in September 2011 when my youngest starts full-day school.
I also have to compensate my ex-husband for his ineligibility for the credit, as my lower net income disqualified him from claiming it. It was factored into our financial agreement for our child, my eldest and his only. This is not new information, but I hadn't really given it much thought before now, and she's ten. It didn't seem like much, but I guess it adds up.
