topic Child care expense (pre school fee) in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Child care expense (pre school fee)

Pak1989 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:23:45 GMT

Hello everyone

I got a question regarding claiming the day care expense ..

I have pre school tuition fee pay in 2022(roughly $5000) ..me and my wife both employed with w2 submitted and I am able to claim the $2000 dependent care credit. Our household AGI is less than $100,000 (I can't find any income limit for claiming dependent care expenses)

After I input all info on the deduction page (amount paid and the pre school name) the system said I don't qualify for the deduction but the status of the deduction show "not started".

May I know is there something I am missing ? Or it is a system issue or simply I just don't qualify

Thank you

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

KrisD15 — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 19:15:11 GMT

The minimum credit (based on high income) is 20% of $3,000, it dos not zero out.

The credit is non-refundable, so you need to have a tax liability for the credit to lower or eliminate.

Did you enter your income and other tax related forms?

Did you get any employer assistance which would be reported on your W-2, such as a FSA or Dependent Care Program?

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

Pak1989 — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 23:30:26 GMT

I do have employer sponsor account so I paid around $10,000 a year for pre school and my employer sponsor me around $5000. Which screen do you think I made a mistake on ?

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

KrisD15 — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 20:27:50 GMT

Please make sure you are reporting the full 10,000 as child care expense, not the 5,000 difference. TurboTax should subtract the employer assistance from the 10,000 since the assistance should be listed on your W-2.

The limit is 3,000 per child, so that's the amount the credit should be based on in your situation.

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

Pak1989 — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 20:59:21 GMT

Yeah ...I just did it again turbotax still wouldn't give me the dependent care expense deduction. It still saying I don't qualify ...could it because my state refund is larger than my federal tax that owe ?

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

KrisD15 — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 03:26:10 GMT

No, the Federal credit is independent of the state tax.

[Edited 02/06/2023 | 7:25pm PST]

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

Pak1989 — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 17:58:03 GMT

I see the check mark for child tax credit but not for credit for other dependents

Re: Child care expense (pre school fee)

Opus 17 — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 18:04:17 GMT

@Pak1989 wrote:

I do have employer sponsor account so I paid around $10,000 a year for pre school and my employer sponsor me around $5000. Which screen do you think I made a mistake on ?

You are not eligible for any further credit.

The employer benefit reduces your credit eligibility. You can't stack them. If you provide care for one child, the maximum expense eligible for a credit is $3000, and $6000 for two or more children. That is reduced by the amount of any employer benefit (FSA or other employer benefit) reported in box 10 of your W-2. If you had a $5000 employer benefit, you are not eligible for any further credit if you provided care for one child, and you could claim $1000 of expenses for the credit if you provided care for 2 or more children ($6000 max minus $5000 employer benefit).