Your home day care's 2026 Time-Space percentage
Drop your sign-in sheet and your bills. Naptally counts the hours your home was used for day care, works out the Form 8829 Time-Space percentage, adds the 2026 standard meal and snack allowance and splits each expense into its business part. It runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
How it works
- Type your home's square feet and drop your attendance log and your expense list (CSV or Excel) — or try the sample or the templates.
- Read your Time-Space percentage, meal allowance and every check, and fix any row it flags.
- Give the worksheet to whoever prepares your return, or copy the Form 8829 lines yourself.
Why Naptally
For family child care providers who run day care in their own home and want the 2026 Time-Space percentage, the standard meal allowance and the business part of each bill worked out from the sign-in sheet they already keep — without uploading the children's names to anyone.
Hours from your sign-in sheet
Each child's time in and out, day by day. When children overlap, the hour counts once — the union, not the sum — the way the time percentage works.
The Time-Space percentage
(Hours with children + other business hours) ÷ 8,760, times the share of your home used regularly for day care, plus any room used only for day care — the Form 8829 lines filled in.
2026 standard meal rates
Breakfast $1.70, lunch or supper $3.22, snack $0.96 in the 48 states (Alaska and Hawaii have their own), capped at 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 supper and 3 snacks per child per day.
Every bill sorted
Rent, utilities and insurance times your percentage; toys and art supplies at 100%; household supplies at your percentage; groceries left out when you use the meal rates.
Checks before you file
Times out before times in, duplicate rows, your own children left out, meals over the daily limit, months missing from the log, rows from another year.
Print or export
Print the worksheet for your records or your preparer, or with Pro get the Excel workbook, the expenses CSV and the daily hours and meals CSV.
Simple pricing
Free for the Time-Space percentage, the meal allowance, the totals and every check. Pro for every expense row and the exports.
Free
- Any size of log
- Time-Space %, meal allowance, totals and every check
- First 15 expense rows, print with a footer
- No signup, nothing uploaded
7-day pass
- 7 days of Pro, no subscription
- Every expense row, print without footer
- Excel workbook and expenses CSV
- Daily hours and meals CSV
Pro Yearly Best value
- Everything in Pro
- Check your percentage any month
- Costs less than 6 months of monthly
Prices in USD. Secure checkout and sales tax handled by our payment partner. Already bought? Enter your license key.
Tools & guides
- Home day care Time-Space percentage calculator
- 2026 standard meal and snack rates for home day care
- Family Daycare Expenses: Form 8829 or Schedule C, and at What Percentage
- Cleaning, Planning and Paperwork Hours in the Time-Space Percentage
- Home Daycare Tax Checklist for 2026: Before You Hand It to Your Preparer
- An alternative to Parachute for the Time-Space percentage
- The Time-Space math from the tax workbook, done for you
FAQ
What does Naptally do?
It reads your 2026 attendance log and expense list and works out the Time-Space percentage for a home day care (Form 8829 and Pub. 587), the standard meal and snack allowance, and the business part of each expense. It doesn't file anything.
Is my data uploaded?
No. Your files are read by JavaScript in your browser tab and never sent to us or anyone else. The children's names and your expenses aren't stored, so closing the tab clears them. Settings can be saved in this browser.
How is the time percentage worked out?
Hours the home is used for day care — children present plus time spent on business with no children there, such as cleaning, planning and paperwork — divided by the 8,760 hours in 2026. When two children are there at once, that hour counts once. Your own children's hours don't count.
Which meal rates apply for 2026?
Rev. Proc. 2003-22 uses the CACFP Tier I day care home rates in effect on December 31 of the prior year. For 2026 that is $1.70 for breakfast, $3.22 for lunch or supper and $0.96 for a snack in the 48 states, DC and territories; $2.72, $5.22 and $1.55 in Alaska; and $2.19, $4.18 and $1.24 in Hawaii. At most 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 supper and 3 snacks per child per day count.
Does it matter if I'm on the Food Program?
You can use the standard rates either way. Food Program reimbursements are income, and a meal reimbursed by the Program is only deductible above what was reimbursed — Naptally notes this but doesn't subtract it, so check with your preparer.
What's free?
Importing any size of log, the Time-Space percentage, the meal allowance, the totals, every check and the first 15 expense rows on screen and in print (with a footer). Pro shows and prints every row and exports the Excel workbook, the expenses CSV and the daily hours and meals CSV.
What isn't covered?
Home depreciation, the Form 8829 income limit and carryovers, actual food costs, mortgage interest and taxes split between Schedule A and Form 8829, cars, state forms, and child care centers outside your home. Federal only. The percentage is only as good as the log.
Is this tax advice?
No. Naptally applies the rules it describes to the data you provide. Ask your tax adviser what applies to you.