Thanks for the reply. I went back and looked at this again and it still doesn't make sense. On my daughter's W2, her block 3 SSA wages were $39765.42. She contributed 1584.83 into a 401K. Her box 1 wages are $38180.59. This looks correct in that her 401K contribution was deducted from her SSA wages and reflected in block 1. Block 10 of her W2 shows the 4,999.80 cents she put into her DCFSA. Her employer did not contribute to this and did not provide on site childcare. She used it to pay daycare. I don't see where she recvd any "pre-tax" benefit from her DCFSA in block 1 of the w2 and form 2441 shows her recving no dependent care credit because the $5000 DCFSA entry in block 10 being more than the $3000 limit. If you remove the $4999.80 from block 10 of her W2 she recvs a $600 dependent care credit based on the AGI being over $43,000 (combined with her husband) and her dependent care deduction being based on .20 x $3000 = $600. It looks like the DCFSA cost her a $600 daycare credit.
More info: Their joint income was $88877.80 (combined totals from box 3 of W2s). They contributed $3338.52 into traditional 401Ks which resulted in box 1 wages on their W2s adding up to $85539.28. The recvd the $27,700 standard deduction for a taxable income of $57840.00. They owed $6499 in taxes, but recvd the $2000 child tax credit, leaving a $4499 tax bill. They paid $3961.20 in fed taxes thru the year. Leaving $538 in taxes due.
I Just don’t see where she recvd any benefits from putting $5K into a DCFSA. What are we missing?
