You must list the expenses in Turbotax to reconcile the dependent care benefit on your W-2. Include the name, address and tax number of the provider, the qualifying expenses (all of them) and your qualifying children, and let the program do the work.
The maximum that can be deferred in a DCB account is $5000. The maximum expenses eligible for a credit are $3000 for one child and $6000 for 2 or more children. So if you paid $8000 for care for one child and had a $5000 DCB, that;s all you get. If you paid $8000 for the care of two children and a $5000 DCB, you can get the credit on the next $1000 (to a maximum of $6000).
The program will do this all for you.
And incidentally, $5000 is the max DCB for a family. If you each had a DCB and the total is more than $5000, the excess gets added back to your taxable income. There's no additional penalty.
