How licensed daycare fees are set: tax bands, ages 0–2 and 3–5, siblings

A licensed daycare fee (保育料, hoikuryō) is not a price the daycare sets for your child. For a public or licensed private daycare it is a user charge the city calculates from household tax, the child's class age, and whether an older brother or sister is already counted. Two fiscal-2027 guides were read: Kawasaki (川崎市) and Koto ward (江東区). They do not charge the same way. Use the one that matches your city, and ask any other ward for its own table.

Ages 0–2 and ages 3–5

Kawasaki follows the national free-fee rule (幼児教育・保育の無償化) and then adds its own lines. The monthly fee is waived for ages 3–5 at daycare, and for ages 0–2 when the household pays no resident tax. A third child is also free (see below). Side dishes are a separate story: for ages 0–2, meals are inside the fee and are not billed again; for ages 3–5, the side-dish charge (副食費) is collected on top. Kawasaki's guide figure for that side dish is 4,500 yen a month. It is waived for a non-taxable household, for a household whose resident-tax income levy is under 57,700 yen (77,100 yen or below for a single-parent household and the other cases the guide lists), and for a third child when the first and second are both preschoolers in daycare. The staple (主食), when you pay it, is not waived with the side dish.

Koto's guidebook, written from the rules as of 1 September 2026, says something stronger about the monthly fee itself:

令和７年９月より第１子保育料が無償化されたことにより、すべての児童の保育料はかかりません。

Read that as Koto's sentence, not as a rule printed for every Tokyo ward. The waiver is the monthly fee only. Monthly extended care, spot extended care, and things the daycare sells (nappies, a uniform) are still charged. Lunch at a Koto daycare is described as already inside the fee.

A child who turns 3 during the year does not switch bands in the middle. Kawasaki says the under-3 amount stays for the rest of the fiscal year.

How Kawasaki calculates the 0–2 fee

The band comes from the household's resident-tax income levy (市民税所得割相当額), the type of facility, and the sibling reduction. The city converts a designated-city tax rate of 8 percent back to the old 6 percent:

｛（税額控除前市民税所得割額）－（調整控除額）｝×（６／８）＝（市民税所得割相当額）

Amounts under 100 yen are dropped. Housing-loan relief, dividend relief, and hometown-tax donations (ふるさと納税) are not deducted for this sum.

Months you attend	Tax year Kawasaki uses
April–August 2027	Reiwa 8 resident tax (income from January–December 2025)
September 2027–March 2028	Reiwa 9 resident tax (income from January–December 2026)

The formal figure arrives on a user-charge notice (利用者負担額等決定通知書). For April entry, Kawasaki says that notice has in recent years been posted in late March. From September, a fresh notice goes out in late August. Overseas income is added to domestic income and the city estimates the levy from the total. A parent posted away, with no Kawasaki resident record, is still inside the calculation. If resident tax was never filed, the fee can be the top band, C25, even when income was zero.

The printed table has separate columns for standard-time and short-time certification, and for different facility types. Those yen cells did not extract in a reliable alignment, so they are not repeated here. Read page 49 of the guide, then the notice. The city does say the charge differs by facility type and by the amount of care certified.

Sibling reduction in Kawasaki does not depend on the child's age or on which facility the sibling uses. Counting from the eldest, the second child pays half and the third and later pay nothing. A child whose fee is already zero still counts. If you and the child are on different resident records, or you have a child aged 19 or over, the city may ask for a written claim. Extended-hours fees and staple charges are not halved.

A single-parent household, and the other households the guide groups with it, pays nothing when the income levy is 77,100 yen or below.

What Koto still charges after the monthly fee went to zero

Ward-run public daycares bill monthly extended care from both parents' resident-tax income levy. If both parents' tax is zero and grandparents live with you, the ward may use the higher grandparent's tax. No papers, or an unfiled return, and the extended fee is the highest amount. Enrolled on the 1st means the whole month is due, even if you leave mid-month. Spot extension at a ward-run public daycare is 100 yen per 15 minutes. Private and small daycares set their own extended rates. The ward does not collect those. Extended care is recalculated in April and in September, when the tax year rolls.

How you pay, and what happens if you do not

Kawasaki asks for a bank debit for public and licensed private daycares, due on the last day of the month of use or the next business day. Setup takes about two months, longer in April and May, and it is one request per child. Until it starts you pay from a slip. Unpaid fees can lead to a late charge and to seizure of salary or savings. The city pursues the higher-earning parent. Koto's extended-care debit works the same way: apply before the month of entry, debit at month-end.

A marriage, a divorce, or a corrected tax return can change the fee. Kawasaki applies that from the month after you apply, and only for the current year. A drop of about 30 percent or more from a bankruptcy, illness, or disaster that was not your fault can be a reduction. One day enrolled is a full month, including illness or a trip to give birth. A move that ends care mid-month can be calculated by the day. Settling-in that starts after the 1st is still a full month.

What goes wrong

• Skipping a zero-income tax return and landing on Kawasaki's C25, or on Koto's highest extended-care amount.
• Forgetting that the second-child discount does not cut Kawasaki's extended-hours bill.

Nothing in either guide promises a place at the fee you calculated.

What to do now

1. In Koto, budget extended hours even though the monthly fee is zero. In Kawasaki, read the 0–2 band on the notice.
2. Set up the debit early. Kawasaki's takes about two months.