topic daycare in Deductions & credits

daycare

chanson799 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:29:14 GMT

My sister is doing her taxes, she paid a friend cash for random times they watched her kid while she worked. She noticed she needs a social security number, will putting her friends social mess up their taxes when they do there's ?

Re: daycare

xmasbaby0 — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 02:01:04 GMT

Not sure what you mean by "mess up" their taxes. If your sister uses the child tax credit on her tax return she has to enter the Social Security number or Tax ID of her childcare provider. The IRS matches that up with income reported on a tax return by that childcare provider----so the babysitter must file a tax return and report that income.

Re: daycare

AnnetteB6 — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 16:35:33 GMT

It is possible that both your sister and her friend could be contacted by the IRS requesting further information about their tax returns. As stated by xmasbaby0, the IRS uses a matching system to be sure that credits and income are claimed correctly and on both tax returns (the one claiming the credit and the one claiming the income).

Since the payments for childcare were made to the friend in cash, both parties will also need records showing the dates and amounts paid. This would be important in the event that the IRS requests the information from either party.

@chanson799