catweazle84

How does child daycare work in Canada? Is there preschool like in many continental european countries? The local daycare here in UK charges about £50 per day, how does that compare to Canada? Cheeky question but is it tax deductible in any way

iaink

IN Ontario...

Kids can start junior kidergarden the year they turn 4, but its usually half days or everyother day. All day every day is becoming more common though.

Before then there are nursery school programs, my kids went to a local cooperative nursery school where a parent was expected to do so many volunteer hours to help out. It was about $20 a day. Te other thing we did was send #2 to a montessori school, which was a little more, but far better suited to her needs.

Option three is standard daycare. These run to about $30-50 a day around here.

Child care expenses are a deductable expense, so you will get some back, although in practice you have to be earning a reasonable amount to reach a break even point.

For working parents of younger kids, without family around to mind the kids the long summer holidays can he a bit of a nightmare.

iaink

Hey, what do you know, some kinds souls have written up a comprehensive wiki article on it...

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Childcare_Options-Canada

terese677

Hi here in north van kindergarten is now a full day and is 9 to 3 I used to pay $54 a day for a full day childcare age 4 to 12 and just under that $640 a month for before and after school full time care
Good luck
Kindergarten starts in school year in which they turn 6 here

Spongebob

Dont you mean when the child turns 5.

nldfc

Last year I paid a total of 18,500 in daycare expenses for a 5 yr old and a 2yr old - If i remember correctly you get a tax break to a maximum of 14,000

Atlantic Xpat

We have slightly cheaper daycare than our friend above @ $7500 for one child. From the latter point of next year that'll be going up to $15k for us with the second on the way. THis is for a small daycare based in a home.

Max tax deductable amount (for two children) is $14k IIRC.

JonboyE

You can deduct up to $7,000 per child ($10,000 if they are disabled) if the reason you need childcare is to earn taxable income.This amount is deducted from the taxable income of the lower earning parent.

You can also claim up to $7,000 per child if childcare expense is to enable you to attend college / university at a post-secondary level. In this case the higher earning parent can claim the amount.

terese677

No, here anyway my child could only start in the school year in which she was 6

Spongebob

For kindergarten as far as I am aware starts at the age of 5 in BC. So if kindergarten starts in September as long as you turn 5 during that year you are eligible.

More info here

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/fdk/qa.htm#q7