What parents need from you
To claim the child and dependent care credit, parents fill out IRS Form 2441. Part I asks for each care provider’s:
- name and address,
- taxpayer identification number: your SSN (or ITIN) if you work as an individual, or your EIN for a business,
- and the amount the parent actually paid you during the tax year.
The same information is needed when parents get reimbursed through an employer’s dependent care FSA. Source: Instructions for Form 2441 (2025), irs.gov, checked October 31, 2026.
Form W-10 or a statement?
The IRS has a short form, Form W-10, that parents can hand to you to fill in. It is not the only option. The W-10 instructions say a parent shows due diligence by keeping any one of: a completed W-10, a copy of the provider’s Social Security card, or “a recently printed letterhead or printed invoice that shows the provider’s name, address, and TIN.” A printed statement from your daycare with your name, address and TIN gives the parent that record and the yearly total in one page. Source: Form W-10 (Rev. October 2020), irs.gov, checked October 31, 2026.
Section 6109(a) of the tax code requires a dependent care provider to give the parent a valid TIN, and a provider who does not can face a penalty. If you do not want to share your Social Security number, apply for a free EIN on irs.gov and use it on all daycare paperwork.
Count payments in the year they were paid
Report what the family actually paid you between January 1 and December 31, not what you billed. A December invoice paid on January 3 belongs in the next year’s statement. Include payments made by the parent for any of their children, and note separately if part of the tuition came from a subsidy program, because the parent can only claim what they paid themselves.
When should I give parents the statement?
By the end of January. Parents start filing in February, and a statement early saves you a dozen texts.
Is this statement an IRS form?
No. It is a summary from you to the parent with the information Form 2441 asks for. You do not file it with the IRS. Your own daycare income goes on your Schedule C.
What if a family had two children with me?
Give one statement per paying parent with the total for all their children, and list the children’s names on it.
Can I make statements for all families at once?
Yes, in the Daycare Binder app. It adds up the payments you recorded during the year and prints a statement for every family in one PDF.
This page is general information, not tax advice. Ask a tax professional about your situation.