How to figure the standard meal allowance for a home daycare

Family child care providers can figure the cost of food for eligible children with the IRS standard meal and snack rates instead of keeping every grocery receipt. You still need a daily record of each child's name, attendance and the meals you served. This page works through one example year.

If you use the standard rates, use them for all food for eligible children for the whole year.

1. The rates

The calculator is prefilled with the 2026 Tier I day care home rates, in effect December 31, 2025. The 2025 rates were $1.66 for breakfast, $3.15 for lunch or dinner and $0.93 for a snack. Check against IRS Publication 587, Table 3, for the year you are filing. Rates are higher in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

2. Meals on a typical day

The example daycare has 6 eligible children. On a typical day it serves 4 breakfasts, 6 lunches, no dinners and 12 snacks. Each child counts for at most one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner and three snacks a day, so 6 children allow up to 6, 6, 6 and 18. All the counts are within the limits.

Count only eligible children: not children who live in your home (including your own), whose parent lives in your home, or whom you watch for personal reasons.

4 × $1.70 + 6 × $3.22 + 12 × $0.96 = $6.80 + $19.32 + $11.52 = $37.64 a day

3. The year

The daycare serves meals on 250 days. $37.64 × 250 = $9,410 for the year, before any food program money. This example received no CACFP reimbursement. If you did, the calculator subtracts it; check Publication 587 for how it applies to your meals.

Do it with your own numbers

The free calculator does the same arithmetic in your browser. The $19 bundle adds a daily attendance and meal log that keeps the record the standard rates require, plus an expense tracker and tuition statements, in Google Sheets and Excel.

This is a record-keeping guide, not tax advice. Check IRS Publication 587 for the year you are filing or ask a tax professional.