Ah, more information is always helpful!
First, please note that we are talking about two different things here: the Child and Dependent Care Credit and a dependent care FSA.
These two things interact but are separate.
"your Child and Dependent Care Credit is $0. " - the credit is based on how much you actually spent out-of-pocket on child and dependent care, with a maximum of $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for two or more children.
Often, taxpayers with a dependent care FSA can't get the credit because they don;t spend anything out-of-pocket until they exceed the $3,000 limit for one child. (Two children is another story).
The catch is that the out-of-pocket expenses must be exactly that, out-of-pocket. Funds from your FSA cannot be used towards your credit.
OK, let's see if I have this right:
1. Box 10 on your W-2 has $4,583
2. You have one child who qualifies as a dependent for the FSA and the credit (i.e., under 13, your dependent, etc). P.S. if you have two qualifying kids but spent money on only one, that's OK, you still report two kids and get the higher limit.
3. You told TurboTax that you spent $11,772 on child care.
4. You spent $4,583 from your FSA and the balance of the $11,772 out of pocket.
Do I have that all right? I feel like I am missing something...
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