TAMPA, Fla — Child care tax credits are coming for businesses in the state of Florida. These credits could reduce some of the weekly childcare costs for parents, making childcare more affordable.
Last month, inside the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County, CEO Dr. Fred Hicks and ABC Action News Anchor Heather Leigh talked about all things child care.
“It’s like solving a software problem,” he said. “It’s complicated, right? With childcare, it’s not just one group that can fix this. We need all the bright ideas, and we need all the bright energy.”
Parents, caregivers, and childcare providers continue to feel the mounting pressures of high costs and minimal return within the child care industry. Nationwide, by the way—it’s not just here in Florida.
But, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, child care issues are the number one reason Floridians are leaving the workforce or changing jobs, and nearly 70% of children live in homes where all parents or caretakers work.
“The need for child care access and affordability for all is really important,” said Makayla Buchanan, the Director of Early Learning and Literacy at the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Here in the Sunshine State, lawmakers are bringing back a statute that existed for about 23 years, from 1985 to 2008: child care tax credits for businesses.
“Anything that can help offset some of the expenses for families and for the facilities is a good idea in my book,” said Stacy Lowell, a mom in the Sarasota area.
If a business opens a child care facility on-site for its employees, the law provides tax credits for each employee up to $3,600 and a separate tax credit to cover 50% of the start-up costs.
A business that helps offset the cost of child care for its employees who bring their kids to a facility within the community will also receive tax credits. The bigger the business, the higher the overall credit allowed.
To read the full text in the bill, click here. Scroll down to page 111.
“Any amount would help. I’m sure if you talk to parents they would say that,” said Tim Bjur, a Senior content management analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.
He wonders if the caps will grow as interest in the program grows.
“Because, if you look at this Florida program, the annual caps are not very generous out of the box,” he said.
“The cap across the board this year is $5 million, which isn’t a ton of money, but I think the goal was to get the program started and then maybe addressing issues after that,” said Carolyn Johnson, the Vice President of Government Affairs at the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “The goal is to get started and make adjustments from there to make it as user-friendly as possible, and that could include increasing the caps.”
The legislature allocated $5 million in tax credits each year for the next three years, but funding is not guaranteed after that—essentially, it’s use it or lose it.
“It’s a credit and so it’s a much more powerful incentive than a deduction may be dollar for dollar,” said Luke Richardson, an Associate Professor of Taxation at USF. “It’s a direct decrease in the amount of tax you may pay. So, you do stand to benefit quite a bit.”
“I was in central Florida, the Tampa region, this weekend, and I sat with some early learning leaders as well as businesses and employers with the local chambers there, and so many folks are worried about this, and they are looking to take advantage,” said Buchanan. “I think we will see significant interest. And that’s our hope, of course. That all of those dollars will be drawn down.”
Employers can start applying for the tax credits starting Oct. 1 of this year.
We recently met with a child care provider in the Sarasota area, toured their facility, and learned about the cost of opening and maintaining an infant toddler room.
We're working on a story now that looks at how that coincides with parents' costs and why they encounter so many waitlists around the state as they look for child care, which will be up in a few weeks.
If you have a child care story you’d like to share, e-mail Heather at Heather.leigh@wfts.com. She reads each e-mail that comes in!
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