Can I claim child care expenses in my taxes if I used FSA to pay for it?

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

No. You get a tax break by having a FSA as part of your job. For those that do not get that employee benefit, they may claim a tax credit based on the expenses they paid. You cannot claim both tax benefits based on paying the same expenses.

But, you must still enter your day care expenses. TurboTax (TT) will prepare form 2441 to verify that you are entitled to leave your FSA as a tax free benefit. Note the FSA is reported in box 10 of your W-2. Some people will end up having all or part of that taxed, if they don't meet the rules.

There is one exception, where you claim both. If the amount of qualified expenses you paid exceeds your FSA but is under the day care limit. The most common situation is this: Taxpayer get the full $5000 FSA, but paid more than $6000 for two or more kids. He can use $1000 to claim the dependent care credit. TT will handle this automatically when you enter your info.

[julie0226]

Am I understanding this correctly... My childcare expenses for next year should be $5720. Because I am single, I am only able to put $2500 into my FSA. So I could claim childcare expenses on my taxes in the amount of $3220, correct?