Home Daycare Time-Space Percentage

For family child care providers who use their home for daycare. Estimate the time percentage, space percentage and business-use percentage the IRS uses for home expenses (Publication 587 and Form 8829), apply it to your home expenses, and compare with the simplified method. Runs entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Tax year

Total home square feet

How to enter hours

Hours open per day

Days open per week

Weeks open in the year

Prep, cleanup and recordkeeping hours per week with no children present

Rooms (CSV with columns Room, Sq Ft, Use; Use is exclusive for daycare only, regular for daycare and family, or none) Home expenses, optional (CSV with columns Expense, Amount, Type; Type is direct-daycare, indirect or direct-personal)

Open an expenses CSV

Not tax advice. This is an estimate from the hours and areas you enter. Keep a log of the hours you actually use your home for daycare (including prep and cleanup), and records of each expense. The deduction also depends on rules this page does not apply, such as the gross income limit, depreciation, carryovers, licensing requirements and how mortgage interest and taxes are split with Schedule A. Form 8829 references here are hints only; see the Form 8829 instructions and Publication 587, or ask a tax professional.