Only the custodial parent can claim the day care expenses ...
There is a special
rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents.
When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a
dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to
claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status,
and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available
to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year;
then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits
may not be split in any other manner.
Note in particular that the non-custodial parent
can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or
the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has
released the exemption to him.
Ref: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2014_publink1000170897
