01 / Credit
Up to 50% back.
Eligible employers can claim 50% of qualified childcare expenditures — with a higher cap for eligible small businesses — subject to annual caps.
IRC §45F · Employer Childcare Tax Credit
Turn childcare into
tax credits
Under IRC §45F, eligible employers can claim 50% of qualified childcare spending as a federal tax credit, up to $500,000 a year ($600,000 for eligible small businesses).
Built for
HR
Finance
Tax Advisors
Multi-site Employers
Childcare Providers
The hidden line item
The cost you can't see
The cost you can't see
on the P&L.
Childcare problems show up as absenteeism, turnover, missed shifts, and hiring friction — long before they ever show up as a benefits line item.
$122B
Lost annually to childcare-related absenteeism in the U.S. workforce.
45%
Of working parents have turned down a job offer because of childcare logistics.
$4,800
Average direct cost to replace one employee who quits over caregiving.
The case · in four
Why employers
Why employers
choose us.
02 / Documentation
CPA-ready records.
Provider payments, employee eligibility, ledgers, invoices, and supporting records stay organized from day one.
03 / Operations
No payroll lift.
Employees enroll by link. Employers approve. Kenstone handles provider payments and monthly reconciliation.
04 / Retention
A benefit parents feel.
Childcare support is a practical retention tool for working parents — especially in roles where attendance and stability matter.
Method
Set the rules once.
Set the rules once.
We run the workflow.
Setup is measured in minutes, not quarters. Most employers move from intro call to live program in under two weeks, with no payroll or IT lift on your end.
-
01
Set the rules.
Define budgets, employee eligibility, caps, and provider requirements. Most employers finish in under 30 minutes.
-
02
Employees enroll by link.
They submit childcare details through a secure form — no accounts, no passwords, no new HR system required.
-
03
We pay providers.
Kenstone routes approved payments directly and reconciles everything into one clean monthly statement.
-
04
Your CPA gets the package.
At year-end, we deliver ledgers, provider records, and payment history — the substantiation your CPA needs for Form 8882.
The next move
Ready to see what
Ready to see what
you may qualify for?
Free eligibility assessment. No commitment. Response within one business day with a personalised savings estimate.
- Free eligibility assessment, no commitment
- Personalised savings estimate within 24 hours
- We coordinate directly with your CPA
- SOC-aligned data handling, end-to-end
Common questions
Questions worth
Questions worth
answering plainly.
Under the 2026 expansion (P.L. 119-21), employers can claim a 50% federal credit on qualified childcare expenditures — capped at $500,000 per year ($600,000 for eligible small businesses under $31M in gross receipts). Most employers don't know it exists. We make it routine.
A DCAP (Dependent Care Assistance Program) lets employees set aside up to $7,500 pre-tax for childcare (2026 limit, up from $5,000). The IRC §45F credit is separate — it's an employer tax credit on top of any DCAP. You can offer both, and most employers should.
We prepare every document your CPA needs to file Form 8882 — substantiation, ledgers, statements, employee records. Your CPA or tax advisor files. We make their job a one-folder job.
Most employers move from contract signed to live program within two weeks. Configuration takes about 30 minutes. Employee enrollment averages five minutes per person. You can be running before the next pay cycle.
We onboard new schools as needed. Most respond inside 48 hours. We handle outreach, contracting, and payment setup so your employees never feel the seam.
Yes. New York employers may qualify for an additional 50% state childcare credit that stacks on top of the federal §45F credit — a combined rate of up to 100%. We document the expenditures; your CPA confirms the New York treatment for your situation.
No. You don't need to build, own, or run a facility. The §45F credit can apply to qualified childcare expenditures made on your employees' behalf, including payments to existing licensed providers. Kenstone structures and documents those payments; your CPA confirms eligibility.
Current law includes language for qualified expenditures made under a contract with an intermediary that itself contracts with qualified childcare facilities — which supports a program model like ours. Final treatment for your situation should be confirmed by your CPA or tax advisor.
A complete claim package: provider payment history, invoices, employee eligibility records, ledgers, and supporting statements — organized so your CPA can prepare Form 8882 from a single folder.
A provider-payment program, not payroll. Funds are routed to childcare providers and documented as employer childcare expenditures — separate from wages and from any Dependent Care FSA you may also offer.
Payments stop at separation, and the records up to that date stay in your claim package. Qualified expenditures already made and substantiated while the employee was active remain part of your filing.