@LeonardS
Thank you for your reply. I am familiar with the standard tests for who is able to claim the credit. My question specifically has to do with the situation when one spouse is paying for childcare in lieu of paying child support. Could the former spouse who would otherwise be receiving child support, if they are the custodial parent and meet the working status stipulations, claim the dependent care credit?
The rationale being that if the child support payments went to the custodial parent directly, the custodial parent would in turn then be using those payments for child care, therefore this really should be the custodial parent's credit to claim even if they did not make the child care payments directly.
