The child and dependent care credit is a credit, not a deduction. A credit is subtracted from your tax, so it increases your refund or reduces your tax due by the amount of the credit. You will get the maximum credit if your expenses for two children are $6,000. Expenses over $6,000 will not increase your credit. The credit is a percentage of the expenses (up to the $6,000 maximum). The percentage is on a sliding scale from 20% to 35%, depending on your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). The higher your income, the lower the percentage is. If your AGI is over $43,000 you get 20%, so your maximum credit would be $1,200 (20% of $6,000).
