M1CD: Child and Dependent Care Credit (2025)
Minnesota · Minnesota DOR · Used for tax years 2025
Minnesota Schedule M1CD calculates the refundable Child and Dependent Care Credit for 2025. It reports care providers, qualifying persons, care expenses, income, and any dependent care benefits received. Include this schedule with your Form M1.
Who files this form
Use 2025 Schedule M1CD to claim Minnesota’s Child and Dependent Care Credit. You may qualify if you paid for care so you, and your spouse if filing jointly, could work or look for work in 2025.
The general eligibility requirements include:
- You have earned income, and your spouse does too if you file jointly. Special rules apply to certain spouses who are students or disabled and to children born in 2025.
- Your adjusted gross income is less than $76,150 with one qualifying person or $88,150 with two or more.
- The care is for a qualifying person. Generally, this is your dependent child younger than 13, or your disabled spouse or disabled dependent, who lived with you for more than half the year.
- The care provider is not your spouse, the parent of your qualifying child, or someone you could claim as a dependent. If your child provides the care, they must be at least 19 by the end of 2025 and not your dependent.
- You report the required care provider and qualifying person information.
Eligible filing statuses generally include Single, Head of Household, Qualifying Surviving Spouse with dependent child, and Married Filing Jointly. If you file Married Filing Separately, you may qualify only if you meet the other eligibility rules and all three conditions below:
- You lived apart from your spouse during the last six months of 2025.
- Your home was the qualifying person’s main home for more than half of 2025.
- You paid more than half the cost of keeping up that home for 2025.
Part-year residents and nonresidents may qualify based on the percentage of their earned income taxable to Minnesota.
What you'll need
Have these records and details available:
- Canceled checks and itemized receipts showing your care payments. Save these records because the department may ask to see them.
- Each care provider’s name, address, Social Security number or federal employer identification number, and amount paid. You may use federal Form W-10 to get provider information.
- Each qualifying person’s name, date of birth, Social Security number, and qualifying expenses.
- Your earned income information, your spouse’s earned income information if filing jointly, and Form M1 for your adjusted gross income.
- If you received dependent care benefits, your 2025 federal Forms W-2, box 10, or federal Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 13, code O, as applicable. Also have information about benefits carried over, forfeited, or carried forward.
Attach a statement with the required information if you have more than two care providers or more than two qualifying persons.
If a child was born and died in 2025 without an SSN, enter “Died” in Table 2, column (c), and attach a birth certificate or hospital medical records. If you claim an increase for prior-year expenses, attach a statement identifying the person and showing how you figured the credit.
How to file
Include Schedule M1CD with your Form M1. The supplied text does not give a mailing address or e-file directions.
- If you did not receive dependent care benefits, complete only Parts 1 and 2.
- If you received dependent care benefits, complete Parts 1 through 4. After Part 1, complete Part 3 next.
- Round amounts to the nearest whole dollar.
- Full-year residents enter the credit from line 9 on Schedule M1REF, line 1, and the number of qualifying persons on line 1a.
- Part-year residents, nonresidents, and American Indians living on a reservation use lines 10 through 13. Enter the result from line 13 on Schedule M1REF, line 1, and the number of qualifying persons on line 1a.
Common mistakes
- Missing or incorrect provider information: The department may disallow your credit and exclusion if the information is incomplete or incorrect.
- Names and SSNs that do not match: Make sure each qualifying person’s name and SSN match their Social Security card.
- Checking both newborn boxes: If claiming for a child born in 2025, check the single-newborn or multiple-newborn box, not both.
- Including expenses from the wrong year in Table 2: Do not include 2024 expenses paid in 2025, 2025 expenses paid in 2026, or prepayments for care in 2026. Follow the separate instructions for prior-year expenses.
- Claiming excluded costs: Do not include kindergarten or higher schooling, overnight camp, summer school, tutoring, chauffeur services, or gardener services.
- Counting expenses twice: When completing Part 4, do not include amounts already on line 29 in Table 2’s qualifying expenses.
- Ignoring the stop instruction: If line 30 is zero or less, stop. The form says you do not qualify.
Questions people ask
Can I benefit if I owe no Minnesota income tax?
Yes. Minnesota’s credit is refundable, so you may benefit even if you have no state tax liability.
Can I qualify if my child was born in 2025 and I had no child care expenses?
You may be eligible to calculate the credit using $3,000 of expenses for your own child born in 2025, even without actual expenses or if only one spouse had earned income. Follow the instructions for the Worksheet for Child Born in 2025.
Can a licensed day care operator claim the credit for their own child?
Possibly. Your child must have been younger than six at the end of 2025. The expense amount depends on the child’s age. Check the licensed family day care box and enter your license number.
Does day camp qualify?
Day camp costs can qualify, even if the camp specializes in an activity such as computers or soccer. Overnight camp expenses do not qualify.
What if I paid 2024 care expenses in 2025?
You may be able to increase your 2025 credit. Use the Prior-Year Expense Worksheet for Line 7 and attach a statement showing the qualifying person’s name, taxpayer identification number, and how you figured the credit.