North Dakota program
A tax credit for caring for a disabled family member
A North Dakota income-tax credit for qualifying expenses of caring for a disabled or older family member.
What it is
A North Dakota income-tax credit for qualifying expenses of caring for a disabled or older family member.
Care costs for a disabled family member can cut the state tax you owe. The credit depends on the relationship, the disability and your taxable income, and it shrinks at higher incomes. It helps only if you owe tax.
Eligibility rules
- The family member must be related by blood or marriage and be disabled or age 65 or older.
- The person receiving care must have taxable income of $20,000 or less, or $35,000 or less if married.
What you get
- Up to $2,000 per qualifying family member and $4,000 total off North Dakota income tax.
What the help includes
- The rate, cap and phaseout depend on filing status and federal taxable income. Schedule ND-1FC calculates the amount.
- The credit is 20% to 30% of what you paid an outside provider for care, respite or medical services for your child, up to $2,000, and it shrinks above $50,000 of taxable income ($70,000 on a joint return). It only reduces tax you owe.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your tax preparer to compare the Family Member Care Tax Credit with your care expenses.
- Have receipts, the family member’s income information and disability documentation ready when preparing the state return.
North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The Office of State Tax Commissioner reviews the credit claimed on the North Dakota return.
Good to know
The credit is nonrefundable. It does not become a payment when you owe no state income tax.
Other details
- For tax year 2025, the Family Member Care form is Schedule ND-1FC, attached with the North Dakota individual return and reported through Schedule ND-1TC. The usual deadline was April 15, 2026. A tax preparer can check any valid extension or amended-return option; an extension to file is not an extension to pay.
Official sources
“Could any of our care expenses qualify for the state credit? What limits or tradeoffs apply, and could you help us ask a tax preparer whether to claim it?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know whether keeping these receipts could reduce our state tax.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Keep the receipts and raise it with whoever prepares your return.
Your social worker
A tax preparer works out whether it helps.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The Office of State Tax Commissioner, on your return.
- Ask the agency
- “Can you check whether we qualify for the North Dakota Family Member Care Tax Credit this year?”
How to apply
First step: Start a folder of care receipts now, and ask about the credit when you file.
- Keep receipts for care expenses through the year.
- Ask your preparer about the Family Member Care Tax Credit when you file.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Claim it on your North Dakota income tax return.
What to gather
- Receipts for care expenses
- Last year’s state return
How long: Claimed once a year, on the return.
What a yes looks like
The credit reduces the state tax you owe.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Usually no tax to offset, or the expenses did not qualify. Ask the preparer which.
Watch out
- It is nonrefundable, so it cannot turn into a refund if you owe no tax.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
A nonrefundable 2025 credit for eligible paid care costs, with income phaseouts and reduced married-filing-separately percentages and caps.
- $20 — Minimum share of qualified expenses
- $30 — Maximum share of qualified expenses
- $2,000 — Maximum credit per qualifying family member
- $4,000 — Maximum credit in total
What it costs the family: Nothing.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Who
- a qualifying family member related by blood or marriage who is 65 or over or disabled
- Income
- cared-for relative taxable income at most $20,000, or $35,000 if married; caregiver credit phases out dollar for dollar above $50,000 taxable income, $70,000 joint or $35,000 married filing separately
- Statute
- NDCC ch. 57-38
The trap: It is nonrefundable and cannot be carried back or forward, so a family with little or no state tax gets nothing from it. Keep the receipts anyway and let a preparer decide.
Where I read this
- Family Member Care Tax Credit — North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner, read September 10, 2026
- Century Code chapter 57-38, Income Tax — North Dakota Legislative Council, read September 10, 2026