A helping hand to pay your home childcare provider.

Although employ a home childcare provider may be less expensive than using a live-in nanny, depending on the number of children you have and the area in whic you live you can still face a hefty bill at the end of the month. Fortunately, you will not be alone to handle the full cost of your childcare provider.

Several aids are available to help you pay your childcare provider's salary. Depending on your case, it is a type of care that can be very financially interesting.

Canada Child Tax Benefit

The Federal Government offers a tax benefit to all Canadians with children which is paid out on a monthly basis.

Your CCTB payments are calculated using the following information:
The number of children you have;
Your province or territory of residence;
Your adjusted family net income of the previous year; and
Your child's eligibility for the child disability benefit.

Basic benefit:
The basic benefit is $1,446 ($120.50 a month) for each child under age 18 (the basic benefit is different for residents of Alberta).
There is a supplement of $101 ($8.41 a month) for your third and each additional child.
The CRA subtract a benefit reduction from this amount if your family net income is more than $43,953. For a one-child family, the reduction is 2% of the amount of your family net income that is more than $43,953. For families with two or more children, the reduction is 4%.

You can calculate the approximate amount of your CCTB here.

National child benefit supplement (NCBS):

Families with low incomes may also be eligible to receive the NCBS as follows:
One-child family: $2,241 a year ($186.75 a month).
Two-child family: $1,982 a year ($165.16 a month).
Three-child family: $1,886 a year ($157.16 a month).

The CRA subtract a benefit reduction from these amounts if your family net income is more than $25,584. For a one-child family, the reduction is 12.2% of the amount of your family net income that is more than $25,584. For a two-child family, the reduction is 23% of the amount of your family net income that is more than $25,584. For a three-or-more-child family, the reduction is 33.3% of the amount of your family net income that is more than $25,584.

Subsidies from your Provincial Government.

Most of the financial aid for childcare comes from the provincial governments, which of course means that it varies greatly depending on where you live. If you are eligible for a subsidy from your provincial government it will be paid directly to the childcare program and you will be responsible for paying whatever is not covered by the subsidy.

This website is an indispensable resource regarding provincial subsidies. They even provide complete information about subsidies in each province and territory (see the righthand side of the page).

Onsite daycare provided by your employer.

• Not commonly offered,
• Expensive for employers to provide,
• Read more about this kind of onsite care here or here.