topic Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit? in Deductions & credits

Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

kristen-a-benninger — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:40:18 GMT

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

DawnC — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 02:23:19 GMT

Are you dependents under the age of 12? See Qualifying Person below. And do you have earned income entered yet (for you and your spouse if filing jointly)? To qualify for this credit, you must meet all of these criteria:

You (and your spouse, if filing jointly) must have earned income.
- The earned income requirement for one spouse is waived if they were a full-time student or disabled (if they lived with the other spouse for more than 6 months in 2024).
You paid caregiving expenses so that you (and your spouse, if filing jointly) could work or look for work.
- The work/look-for work requirement for one spouse is waived if they were a full-time student or disabled (if they lived with the other spouse for more than 6 months in 2024).
You paid a caregiver to care for a Qualifying Person.
Your filing status is not Married Filing Separately (except under certain circumstances).
You can provide the care provider's name, address, and their SSN, ITIN, or EIN on your return (unless it's a tax-exempt organization).

What is the Dependent Care Credit?

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 02:25:59 GMT

We cannot see your screen or your tax return---so we can offer guesses.

First---are you trying to work on the childcare credit before you have entered your W-2's or self-employment income? The credit will not work if you have not entered income.

Are you filing married filing separately? You will not get the childcare credit if you are filing MFS.

Is your child older than 12?

Are you a non-custodial parent? Only the custodial parent can get the childcare credit.

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/am-i-eligible-to-claim-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/child-dependent-care-credit/L8h8A5Klg_US_en_US?uid=m5yifys1

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

kristen-a-benninger — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 02:28:49 GMT

I'm divorced and filing head of household. I've entered all my W2s. My children are under 12. I'm the custodial parent. It's sending me around in a loop.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

Jackie88n — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 05:05:20 GMT

I got the same issue. I have 2 children, one is 2 one is 4. i work full time, i entered my W2. my wife does not work. I filled married jointly. It ask me 2 questions, were me or my wife student , were we disabled. i selected NO for both. And then it kicked me out. it does not allow me to enter the Child care credit section. Please help!!!

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

jpaul70631 — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:06:47 GMT

Having the same issue! Kids under 12, all W2s entered under the correct names, not disabled, not students...seems to happen every year, looking at old message boards.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:11:15 GMT

@Jackie88n You will not get the childcare credit for a joint return if you are not showing income earned from working from both parents, and you do not say that your spouse is a student or disabled, so you are not eligible for the childcare credit. There is no "help" for that--- you do not get childcare credit when one parent does not work or attend school. And is not disabled.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

xmasbaby0 — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:14:04 GMT

@Jackie88n

@jpaul70631

IRS tool to help you understand if you are eligible for the childcare credit:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/am-i-eligible-to-claim-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/child-dependent-care-credit/L8h8A5Klg_US_en_US?uid=m5yifys1

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

joewhammy — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 19:02:38 GMT

Same issue here. both kids under 12 and both parents working with W2's imported.

Site asks: Are you a fulltime student or disabled or none of the above. I select none of the above for both parents and I cant claim the credit. site says I don't qualify

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

SusanY1 — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 19:44:43 GMT

Double-check the W-2 imports to be certain that they assigned properly. If both were attributed to the same individual, this could cause the error you're describing.

@joewhammy

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

joewhammy — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 20:24:13 GMT

Thanks Susan, I will give that a shot. I just ran through this form:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/am-i-eligible-to-claim-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

and we are eligible for the credit so there's definitely something odd going on with the return on the site.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

MarilynG1 — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:07:28 GMT

If you using TurboTax Online, close the program, clear your Cache and Cookies, and step through the Child Care Credit section again.

Here's more detailed info on the Child Care Credit.

@joewhammy

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

VolvoGirl — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:09:48 GMT

I would delete the W2s and enter them again Manually. That usually fixes it especially if you imported them. They might have imported wrong.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

AbolishTheIRS — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 22:37:56 GMT

Same. The site is broken at the dependent care credit.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

KrisD15 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 22:40:09 GMT

Can you clarify the issue? Are you filing Married Filing Jointly and if yes, do you both have earned income?

Are you getting any error?

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

joewhammy — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 22:44:37 GMT

I was able to resolve this by manually inputting our W2's. for some reason the auto import function was not working

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

user17738669838 — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 20:50:35 GMT

thankyou! This was the issue with mine. I went back to look at the W2s and it said my name for both of them. This also fixed the HSA issue i was having

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

dan_hyman — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 07:49:46 GMT

Hi TurboTax professionals and technical support team,

I have found an error in your worksheet that calculates the removal of FSA funds from your total expenses. The error is in Form 2441 Part II in the TurboTax Home & Business desktop 2025 edition. The 2024 did not have the mistake.

The calculation mistake you are making is that if the taxpayer is claiming any FSA expenditures, you wipe out the available Child Care Credit from the FSA expenditures. For example, if someone has $8,000 in qualifying child care expenditures and has a $5,000 FSA, your worksheet says "$3,000 is less than $5,000, so you don't qualify for the Child Care Credit". This is not in accordance with the Internal Revenue Service. What SHOULD happen is that the $5,000 is removed from the $8,000 of qualified expenses FIRST, leaving $3,000 of qualified expenses left. THEN you apply the formula and, voila, 0.2 (or whatever) x $3,000 give you the $600 credit that every IRS website and calculator says you deserve in accordance with tax law. There are even specific examples similar to this on irs.gov that clearly show that your worksheet is not operating correctly.

This should be fixed ASAP. Just roll it back to the 2024 worksheet and it will be fine, then find the employee who changed it and give them a reprimand for their HR file.

Dr. Dan.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

dan_hyman — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:05:43 GMT

Line 29 of Part III of Form 2441 is specifically the one calculation and statement that is, quite simply, incorrect.

Please re-read the tax code on this item to convince yourselves beyond a shadow of doubt. I am not a programmer with access to source code, so I can't fix it for you, but I can personally override the end result of the worksheet and file my taxes correctly.

I recommend everyone review this carefully and ensure you qualify for the same. Just go into View: Forms, go to Form 2441, and hand edit Line 29 (right click, Override) to the correct positive value of "your qualified expenses minus your FSA" (i.e., likely $3,000 or more for a single qualifying child) and everything appears to flow out fine. I bopped back to View Step-by-Step and got the happy green +$600 animation like I expected. Good luck out there, and don't be afraid to go to irs.gov and read things for yourselves!

Dr. Dan.

Re: Why is Turbotax not letting me claim child and dependent care credit?

NCperson — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 10:04:38 GMT

@dan_hyman what you are describing is false in some manner. I have the exact same scenario as you describe and the software provides the correct calcuations. I am using the Desktop version.

Overriding fields invalidates the Turbo Tax guarentee and may prevent efiling. Not the recommended approach.

what is on your W-2, box 10?

On form 2441, Line 27 is the number of qualifiying children times $3,000 (maximum $6,000)

Line 28 is pulled from the W-2, Line 10.

Line 29 is the difference.

if you have one child ($3000) but Box 10 exceeds $3000, there is no child care credit available.