Is there a free daycare bookkeeping template?

Yes — this one. It is a free Excel / Google Sheets workbook with tabs for income, expenses (with a category drop-down), mileage, and summaries that total everything automatically into a CRA-ready tax view. No email or signup required.

What records does a home daycare need to keep for taxes in Canada?

Keep a record of all income received and every business expense with its receipt, plus a mileage log for business driving. The CRA requires you to keep records and receipts for six years. Issuing child-care receipts to families — with your name, the child, the amount and your SIN — is also expected.

What daycare expenses are tax-deductible in Canada?

Food, toys and program supplies, a business-use share of rent or mortgage interest, utilities and home insurance, wages, professional and licensing fees, advertising, and vehicle costs are commonly deductible. The template groups these into the CRA T2125 lines your accountant expects.

Do I need accounting software for a small daycare?

A spreadsheet is enough to start, especially for a home daycare. You will likely want software once you are issuing many invoices, handling subsidy reductions, or reconciling card payments — at which point Mitten can do the bookkeeping as a by-product of running your day.

Free Daycare Bookkeeping Template (Canada, 2026): Income & Expense Tracker

Good books are the difference between a calm tax season and a shoebox of receipts in April. This free workbook gives a Canadian daycare — home or centre — a clean place to track every dollar, and it totals everything for you. Last reviewed June 2026.

⬇ Download the free template (.xlsx)

Works in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets. No email, no signup.

What’s inside

Income — tuition, registration and subsidy payments, with a column for the subsidy portion.
Expenses — a dated log with a category drop-down so everything totals correctly.
Mileage — business driving (supply runs, field trips) with a running total.
Monthly summary — income, expenses and net for every month, calculated automatically.
Tax summary — your expense categories totalled for the year and mapped to the CRA T2125 lines your accountant expects.

How to use it

Log money in on the Income tab as it arrives.
Log money out on the Expenses tab — pick a category from the drop-down and note the receipt number.
Let the summary tabs do the totalling. Don’t type in the grey total cells.

Keep receipts — and issue them too

The CRA wants records and receipts kept for six years. You also need to issue child-care receipts to families — with your name, the child’s name, the amount paid and your SIN or business number. Our tax-receipts guide has the exact format, and the child care expenses deduction guide covers what families can claim back.

What you can deduct

Home daycares in particular leave money on the table by under-claiming. A business-use share of rent or mortgage interest, utilities and home insurance is deductible, alongside food, supplies, wages, insurance, professional fees and vehicle costs. The full picture is in our daycare taxes guide, and the profit-margin guide shows where the money actually goes.

When the spreadsheet stops scaling

A spreadsheet is perfect to start. But once you’re issuing dozens of invoices a month, netting subsidy reductions, or reconciling card payments, manual entry gets old fast — that’s the point of Mitten’s bookkeeping add-on: receipts, invoicing, subsidy netting and CRA-ready reports come out of simply running your day, free for your first 5 children.

Run your daycare on Mitten — free to start

Mitten does everything in this guide — daily reports, photos, messaging, billing, even payroll prep — free for your first 5 children, then just $20/mo + $2 per child.

Start free — no card needed → See the live demo

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free daycare bookkeeping template?: Yes — this one. It is a free Excel / Google Sheets workbook with tabs for income, expenses (with a category drop-down), mileage, and summaries that total everything automatically into a CRA-ready tax view. No email or signup required.
What records does a home daycare need to keep for taxes in Canada?: Keep a record of all income received and every business expense with its receipt, plus a mileage log for business driving. The CRA requires you to keep records and receipts for six years. Issuing child-care receipts to families — with your name, the child, the amount and your SIN — is also expected.
What daycare expenses are tax-deductible in Canada?: Food, toys and program supplies, a business-use share of rent or mortgage interest, utilities and home insurance, wages, professional and licensing fees, advertising, and vehicle costs are commonly deductible. The template groups these into the CRA T2125 lines your accountant expects.
Do I need accounting software for a small daycare?: A spreadsheet is enough to start, especially for a home daycare. You will likely want software once you are issuing many invoices, handling subsidy reductions, or reconciling card payments — at which point Mitten can do the bookkeeping as a by-product of running your day.

Free daycare bookkeeping template