We're filing as married/jointly, and I'm doing my 2023 taxes VERY late (January 2025), but we should not owe anything, because we never do (we ALWAYS receive a decent return), so I'm not worried about fees/fines. Since we are so late I'm having to use the TurboTax desktop software to file (instead of the online filing), which makes asking questions almost impossible. Our situation is that my husband works ($84k before taxes) and I left my job in 2019, in order to care for our autistic son, so now I don't bring in income. This is exactly the same as when I filed for 2000, 2021 and 2022.
The ONLY difference is that I started teaching, part-time, in August 2023 and was hired as a contractor (without benefits of any kind), only making $800 per month. I received a 1099-NEC for a whopping total of $2,700. I've entered all of this, appropriately. I also claimed expenses for my home office, business expenses, etc.
Like I mentioned, this is the ONLY difference between 2023 and every year since 2000 (after I left employment). I've been eligible and able to claim the Child and Dependent care credit every year, but it's telling me now that I'm unable to claim the credit. It doesn't tell me why, just gives the generic breakdown about what's required to claim the credit. I've already gone in and made sure that my dependents are entered correctly into TurboTax, showing up as our natural children, both under the age of 17, who no one else can claim. Everything else is EXACTLY the same as the previous years, with no changes whatsoever to our children's dependent status'.
This credit is VERY important to us, especially since I left my full-time job. Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong or have any ideas for what I need to change in order to claim this credit? If I need to delete my business expenses, I will do that, no big deal (I think the business expenses came to about $2800 total, to turn my basement into a home office, purchase a decent PC, etc.), but if this is throwing off my Child Care credit for some reason, then I can delete those expenses.
I appreciate anyone who has any insight (or even just guesses).
Thank you!
