topic Re: Total Income issue in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 07:07:52 GMT

After placing our W-2's into TurboTax, the total of the two is 69,332, but the total income is showing 73,380 - I've checked and triple checked, I've even started the return multiple times, but it keeps coming up with more income than is on the W-2's

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 15:51:12 GMT

Did anyone have any scholarship money?

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 15:54:15 GMT

No, we had childcare. but our brother and sister in law also have the same situation and none of their childcare was added...

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:04:26 GMT

Does your W-2 have an amount in box 10 for childcare on it? Did you pay less for childcare than the amount shown on the W-2? If so, part of that was added back in as taxable income.

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:07:46 GMT

Yes, it's in Box 10 as is our brother and sister in law's. What was listed on the W-2 was the actual amount paid. The total income has not changed on theirs, but ours changed by $4,048 more. And my question would now be why, I guess?

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:12:05 GMT

Did you go to the childcare credit section and enter the amount paid for childcare there? Check your entries there. Go to Federal>Deductions and Credits>You and Your Family>Child and Dependent Care Credit

And....in order to get the childcare credit you must show income from both parents on a joint return. If one of you is self-employed and showed a loss, you cannot get the credit. Make sure income is entered under both spouse's names if you entered W-2's. Some people make the mistake of putting it all under one name.

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:21:19 GMT

It is a joint return, and both of us are listed with the childcare credit. However, I will go back and look.

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:22:20 GMT

It is also not on one W-2, but equally distributed on both as our employer did it.

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:29:06 GMT

We both also receive W-2's from the same company. I checked the entries, and everything seems to be correct.

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:34:50 GMT

So----each of your W-2's has the same amount in box 10? Each of you has more than $4000 in box 10? And did you actually pay over $8000 for childcare?

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:36:03 GMT

This is correct.

Yes, we each had $8,698.50 in Box 10

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:39:32 GMT

Wait---what? So did you actually pay over $17K for childcare? For how many children?

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:40:09 GMT

2 children.

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:41:35 GMT

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/credits-and-deductions/help/what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit/00/25907

Re: Total Income issue

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:46:07 GMT

So----the amount you can get for the credit is calculated based on your AGI and is only up to $8000 per child. It seems like maybe your credit was limited by your AGI, which caused some of the amount from box 10 to be added back as taxable income.

@Critter-3 ? @ErnieSO ?

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:47:07 GMT

OK, I see what it is saying; makes sense. However, the taxable amount of income did not go up by $1,397. It went up by $4,048.

Re: Total Income issue

Hal_Al — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:53:07 GMT

On the dotted line, to the left of line 1, on form 1040, is there a notation, e.g. DCB4048?

Re: Total Income issue

Mary1692 — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:54:25 GMT

Just DCB

Re: Total Income issue

Hal_Al — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 17:38:23 GMT

That confirms that TT is calculating that part of your Dependent Care Benefits ("DCB") as being taxable (although the amount is usually on the dotted line too).

Review Part III of form 2441 for the calculation of the taxable amount.