Start by counting what you can claim: the national childcare subsidy is 3600 yuan per child per year until age 3, and the individual income tax special additional deduction is 2000 yuan per child per month

A child under 3 can receive 3600 yuan a year in childcare subsidy, and it is not taxed. A child born before 2025 is paid for the months that remain. Separately, from the child's birth until full-time schooling ends, 2000 yuan per child per month can be taken off a parent's taxable income. If a single parent takes the whole deduction, someone in the 3% bracket pays 720 yuan less for the year, and someone in the 10% bracket pays 2400 yuan less.

Cost

It costs nothing. Apply for the subsidy where the child's hukou (户口 — household registration) is registered; a single visit finishes it. Fill in the tax deduction in the Individual Income Tax app on your phone, or have your employer fill it in.

Benefit

The plan issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council provides: from January 1, 2025, a subsidy is paid for infants and toddlers under 3, until they turn 3, at 3600 yuan per child per year. A child born before January 1, 2025 who is still under 3 is paid for the months that qualify. Either parent, or another guardian, applies. The subsidy is "exempt from individual income tax." When dibao (低保 — means-tested minimum subsistence allowance) and similar assistance are assessed, it "does not count as household or individual income." 3600 yuan is the "national baseline," and "funds needed for a local increase are borne by the local budget." The plan also provides that "governments below the county level may not set their own childcare-subsidy policy or standard." A provincial or municipal government that wants another childcare subsidy, or a higher standard, files it for the record with the competent department at the level above. On the tax side, the State Council in 2022 created a deduction for care of children under 3. In 2023 it raised that deduction together with the children's-education deduction; from January 1, 2023, both are 2000 yuan per child per month. The children's-education deduction covers the time from when the child turns 3 until primary school, and also full-time academic education from primary school through a doctorate. Parents "may choose to have either of them deduct 100% of the standard, or each deduct 50%." Once chosen, it cannot be changed during that year. Worked example: for a child, the deduction is 2000 yuan times 12 months, 24000 yuan in a year. If a single parent takes all of it, that person pays 720 yuan less in the 3% bracket and 2400 yuan less in the 10% bracket. If it is split, each deducts 12000 yuan, and pays 360 yuan less in the 3% bracket and 1200 yuan less in the 10% bracket. The bracket is based on taxable income for the whole year: 3% on the part that does not exceed 36000 yuan, and 10% on the part above 36000 yuan up to 144000 yuan.

Notes

This is the national baseline. The plan allows a provincial or municipal government to raise the standard or to issue another childcare subsidy; a government below the county level cannot issue its own. Whether your area adds more, and how to claim it, is in your province's implementation plan. Added up over 3 years, it is 10800 yuan, only a small piece of the cost of raising a child. Do not treat it as the reason to have a child or not. If the tax deduction was not filled in during the year, it can still be added at the year-end reconciliation; see Section 5, item 2 (individual income tax reconciliation). Someone whose taxable income for the whole year is already 0 pays no less after the deduction. If the deduction crosses a bracket, the tax saved falls between the figures from the brackets. If both parents pay tax, having the parent in the higher bracket take the whole deduction saves the household more.

Sources · 6

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