How is the 45F credit claimed?

The IRS directs taxpayers to Form 8882. A final filing position depends on the taxpayer facts, records, and applicable tax rules.

45F Tax Credit 2026: Employer-Provided Child Care Credit

Q: What is the 45F tax credit?

The Section 45F tax credit is a federal employer-provided child care credit for qualifying expenses and qualifying child care resource-and-referral services.

Q: What are the 2026 45F rates?

The published 2026 framework generally uses 40% of qualified child care expenditures, 50% for an eligible small business, and 10% of qualifying resource-and-referral expenditures, subject to annual limits.

What is the 45F tax credit?

Section 45F is the federal employer-provided child care credit. For expenses paid or incurred after December 31, 2025, it generally combines a credit for qualifying child care expenditures with a separate credit for qualifying child care resource-and-referral expenditures. The credit applies against federal income tax and its use can depend on the taxpayer’s facts, tax liability, and other tax rules.

Start with the arrangement, not the label. A benefit described as “child care support” is not automatically a qualified Section 45F expenditure. The contract, facility status, employee access, records, fair-market-value analysis, and nondiscrimination requirements matter.

2026 45F tax credit at a glance

2026 component	General federal rule	Planning note
Qualified child care expenditures	40% credit; 50% for an eligible small business.	Includes qualifying facility costs and certain direct or intermediate-entity contracts.
Resource and referral expenditures	10% credit.	A separate category with its own service and nondiscrimination requirements.
Annual credit limit	$500,000; $600,000 for an eligible small business.	Amounts are indexed for taxable years beginning after 2026.
Eligible-small-business test	Generally $32 million or less in average annual gross receipts for 2026.	The IRS applies a modified five-year Section 448(c) test; entity and aggregation facts matter.

Which employer child care arrangements can fit Section 45F?

The IRS identifies several expenditure paths. A business may acquire, construct, rehabilitate, or expand qualifying facility property; operate a qualified child care facility; contract with a qualified child care facility; contract with an intermediate entity that contracts with qualifying facilities; or contract for qualifying child care resource-and-referral services.

Facility route. A facility must satisfy applicable state and local law, including licensing, and meet the Section 45F employee-access conditions.

Contract route. Retain the signed agreement, invoices, evidence of the provider or facility’s qualification, and records supporting the service to employees.

Joint arrangement route. Joint ownership or operation is permitted, but each taxpayer must determine its own qualifying costs, allocation, cap, and credit use.

Resource-and-referral route. This is generally a 10% category, not the 40% or 50% facility-expenditure category.

Four questions to answer before using a 45F estimate

What is your 2026 tax-year arrangement? Map it to a facility, provider contract, intermediate-entity contract, or resource-and-referral path.
Which amounts are potentially qualified? Separate expenses by category, do not include amounts above fair market value, and retain the supporting records.
Does the 50% rate potentially apply? Confirm the modified five-year gross-receipts test rather than relying on a single year’s revenue.
How will you use and document the credit? Review tax-liability, deduction, basis-reduction, recapture, and filing considerations with an advisor.

Use the calculator as a planning tool

The 2026 federal estimator displays the published rate and cap assumptions. For state-by-state context, use the state credit guides; each guide now displays federal and state amounts separately and identifies when no current state employer child care credit has been verified.

How to claim the 45F tax credit

To claim the credit, the IRS directs taxpayers to Form 8882. The filing process requires more than a calculator total. Work through the 45F filing and documentation guide and the eligibility and compliance checklist before an advisor reviews the filing position.

45F tax credit FAQs

What is the 45F tax credit for 2026?

It is the federal employer-provided child care credit. For qualifying 2026 expenditures, the published framework generally uses 40% of qualified child care expenditures, 50% for an eligible small business, and 10% of qualified resource-and-referral expenditures, subject to annual limits.

Can a business use a third-party child care provider?

Section 45F can include a contract with a qualified child care facility and, for post-2025 amounts, a contract with an intermediate entity that contracts with one or more qualified child care facilities. The exact agreement and documentation matter.

Is a child care search or referral service treated the same as care expenses?

No. Qualifying resource-and-referral expenditures are generally a separate 10% category. They should be identified and documented separately from qualifying child care expenditures.

What is the 2026 small-business threshold for 45F?

The IRS says that, generally for 2026, a corporation or partnership meets the modified five-year gross-receipts test at $32 million or less in average annual gross receipts. Confirm the test for your entity.

How does a business claim the credit?

The IRS directs taxpayers to Form 8882. The final result depends on the taxpayer’s facts, records, tax liability, and filing treatment.

45F Tax Credit: The Employer-Provided Child Care Credit