Home day care Time-Space percentage calculator
Drop your sign-in sheet. Naptally works out the hours your home was used for day care, the 2026 Time-Space percentage and the Form 8829 lines — in your browser, nothing uploaded.
How the Time-Space percentage works
A family day care provider can deduct part of the costs of a home used regularly for day care, even when the space is also used by the family (Pub. 587). The part is the space percentage — square feet used regularly for day care over the whole home — times the time percentage: the hours the home was used for day care over the 8,760 hours in 2026 (Form 8829 instructions). A room used only for day care counts in full.
A worked example
The app's sample is a fictional home day care in a 2,400 sq ft house: 1,600 sq ft used regularly for day care and a 200 sq ft playroom used for nothing else, open five days a week with four children, plus 520 hours a year of cleaning and paperwork with no children there. The provider's own child is in the log and left out. The children's overlapping times add up to 2,622.75 hours, so the time percentage is (2,622.75 + 520) ÷ 8,760 = 35.88%. The playroom counts in full and the rest of the day care space at the time percentage, for a business percentage of 32.25%. The meals served come to $4,281.62 at the standard rates, and the deductible total with the business part of each expense is $12,350.99.
What you get
- The Time-Space percentage and the Form 8829 lines 1 to 7.
- The standard meal and snack allowance at the 2026 rates, with the daily limits applied.
- Each expense's business part: shared costs at your percentage, day care-only costs at 100%, household supplies at your percentage.
- Checks: times that don't add up, duplicate rows, your own children, meals over the limit, months missing from the log.
Files it reads
An attendance log with a date, the child's name, the time in and the time out — one row per child per visit — as CSV or Excel. Columns for breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks served are optional. A KidKare, Procare or Brightwheel attendance export works if it has those columns; otherwise use the template. Expenses are a second file with a date, a description, an amount and, optionally, a category.
Your records stay on your computer
Naptally reads your files with JavaScript in this browser tab. The children's names, your hours and your expenses are never uploaded, and closing the tab clears them.
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.
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.