It’s Easy to Qualify.
Louisiana provides a refundable tax credit to child care centers participating in Quality Start, Louisiana's early care and education quality rating and improvement system. The size of the credit will be based on the center’s star level and the number of children being served who are in the Child Care Assistance Program or are foster children in the custody of the Department of Social Services. The credit is NOT dependent on whether the center owes income taxes, and is available for both for-profit and non-profit centers.
Here’s How Much You Could Get.
| Quality Rating of Child Care Facility | Tax Credit per Eligible Child |
| Five Star | $1,500 |
| Four Star | $1,250 |
| Three Star | $1,000 |
| Two Star | $750 |
| One Star or not participating in Quality Start | $0 |
All licensed child care centers are eligible to receive the SRTC each year if they: a) file a tax form, b) document that they serve children who are in the Child Care Assistance Program or are foster children in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, and c) document that they are participating in Quality Start.
For child care providers that operate as flow through entities such as partnerships, LLCs electing partnership treatment, or S corporations passing credits through to shareholders, every partner, member or shareholder claiming the credit must submit or maintain copies of the information issued by the Department of Children and Family Services for each site. Every partner, member or shareholder claiming the credit must submit or maintain a schedule showing how the total credit is allocated to each partner, member or shareholder. To be eligible for the School Readiness Tax Credit you must receive your initial rating by December 31 of the year you are first participating. In all subsequent years, your rating as of July 1 will be your rating used to determine your SRTC. Please note that stars are awarded to a center as of the first day of the month following the month in which the star decision is made. Therefore, for a center to have their stars by December 31, the stars must be awarded by November 30th to be effective December 1. Any decision made in the month of December would not be effective until January 1 of the following year.
Let our trained Quality Start Specialists guide you through the process. Click here for an application to participate or call (225) 342-0694.