Edited 6:00 2/4/18
If you had Dependent Care Benefits in Box 10, W-2 and you file separately, you are generally not entitled to any child care credit and if you did have money dedicated to Child Care on your W-2, it will be taxed.
But, you have to answer that your spouse allows you to take the exemption and that you pay for more than half of the cost of maintaining the home to get credit for any DCB. The entire amount won't be excluded but a portion will be.
Here's what I finally got assuming there were $5000 in box 10 w-2.
It looks like you don't qualify for this credit because you're Married Filing Separately. It's rare to qualify for this credit when you're Married Filing Separately, but we wanted to be sure we didn't miss it if you did.
We see you've reached the allowable limits for both care expenses and care benefits. When you're Married Filing Separately, the most care expenses you can claim is $2,500 and the most care benefits you're allowed is $5,000. Taking these limits into account, $5,000 of your care benefits weren't spent. This amount will be added to your W-2 as taxable income.
How would I qualify for this credit when I'm Married Filing Separately?
Normally to qualify for the Credit:
To qualify for this credit, you
must meet all of these criteria:
- You
(and your spouse, if filing jointly) must have earned
income
- The
earned income requirement for one spouse is waived if s/he was a
full-time student or
- Disabled,
if they lived with the other spouse for more than 6 months in 2017
- You paid
caregiving expenses so that you (and your spouse, if filing jointly)
could work or look for work
- The
work/look for work requirement for one spouse is waived if s/he was
a full-time student or
- Disabled,
if they lived with the other spouse for more than 6 months in 2017
- You
paid a caregiver to care for a Qualifying
Person. The caregiver cannot be:
- Your
spouse;
- Your
dependent;
- Your
child if they were under 19 on the last day of 2017, even if not your
dependent; or
- The
parent of the Qualifying Person, if the Qualifying Person is your child
under the age of 13 during 2017.
- You cannot
file with the Married Filing Separately filing status
- You must
furnish the care provider's name, address, and (unless it's a tax-exempt
organization) their SSN, ITIN, or EIN on your return.
The
non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of
Household filing status or the childcare credit, based on that child, even when
the custodial parent has released the exemption to him.
