Prompts won't let me add my 2025 Child Care Expense. Only asks if I had 2024 credit/expense in 2025 but nowhere to enter 2025 expense. Then says do not qualify.

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
February 1, 2026
2 replies
7 views

Q1 - Did you have Child Care Expense in 2025. Answer - Yes. Q2 - Did you pay 2024 child care expense in 2025. Answer - No. Q3 Do you have a credit for payments made in 2025 for prior years? Answer - No. Continue - "You do not qualify because no 2025 expenses were entered." I've gone through the AI assistant and that is also referencing drop downs that don't exist in the TurboTax online page. Can someone just direct me to the actual form so I can enter this without the prompts?

TurboTax Online

xmasbaby0

Level 15

You do not have direct access to forms with online TurboTax. One possible reason for your problems---have you entered your income? The childcare credit will not work if you have not entered income from working.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

amerk906Author

Level 2

I was able to resolve the issue. I had entered all of my income and had moved on to the deductions section. It hasn’t been working because of the new question asking how many months my children had been living with me instead of asking “did they live with you more than half the year.” I have 50/50 placement with a 2/2/3 weekly schedule that works out to roughly 1-2 more days with me per year. I had original selected 6 months for 50% of the time with me but that disqualified me because 6 months is technically less than half the year by days. I had remembered this call out about day calculations when updating my kids information so updated that to 7 months and it allowed me to enter the 2025 childcare expenses after that for the Dependent Care Credit. Not sure why the additional question was added to break out time spent in household by month but seems like it added more confusion than anything.

Jordancp

Level 2

We are having this same issue and cannot seem to get it resolved. We paid for child care from January-December of 2025, but it's asking if we paid for a 2024 child care expense in 2025 and then saying we don't qualify.

AnnetteB6

Level 15

Try going back to the information entered for your dependents to be sure that you indicated that they lived with you for over half of the year. This was an issue for another user in this same thread.

Then, take a look at the requirements for claiming a dependent care credit to see if there is something else that may be disqualifying you from claiming the credit:

What is the Child and Dependent Care Credit?

Who is a Qualifying Person for the Child and Dependent Care Credit?

@Jordancp

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