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Deductions & credits
No, the maximum amount that can apply to the Child and Dependent Care credit is $6,000, no matter how much you spend. And that's only if you have two or more kids (if you have just the one, the limit is $3,000).
In short, that means that you get no tax benefit for the other $13,000 ($19,000 minus $6,000) that you spend, neither a deduction nor a credit.
In a sense, there is no Child and Dependent Care deduction. All there is is the opportunity to exclude up to $5,000 from your Wages in box 1 of your W-2 (the amount in box 10 is removed from box 1 before your W-2 is printed).
Why $5,000? Because that is the largest amount you can contribute to a dependent care FSA in one year. In many cases, this leaves $1,000 left over to apply to the credit.
You are correct to wonder which method (exclusion or credit) results in a better result for you. The answer is, it depends. The results vary based on the number of qualifying kids, your marginal tax rate, and your adjusted gross income.
Please see this TurboTax Help page on this subject to see if it helps.
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