No, unless the child lives with you. Only one parent may claim the child care credit and that parent is the custodial parent. It is not necessary that you be claiming the child as dependent, if you are the custodial parent. But that assumes you are separated from the other parent. If you and the other parent live together, than you do have to be the parent claiming the child as a dependent, to get the day care credit.
For tax purposes, there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent and the other the non-custodial parent.
There is a special rule
in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When
the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child
tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for
Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit.
This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived
together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you
can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in
any other manner.
Note in particular that the non-custodial parent
can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or
the day care credit, based on that child , even when the custodial
parent has released the exemption to him.
But, the custodial parent may claim the amounts paid by both parents in calculating the dependent care credit.the
No, unless the child lives with you. Only one parent may claim the child care credit and that parent is the custodial parent. It is not necessary that you be claiming the child as dependent, if you are the custodial parent. But that assumes you are separated from the other parent. If you and the other parent live together, than you do have to be the parent claiming the child as a dependent, to get the day care credit.
For tax purposes, there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent and the other the non-custodial parent.
There is a special rule
in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When
the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child
tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for
Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit.
This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived
together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you
can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in
any other manner.
Note in particular that the non-custodial parent
can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or
the day care credit, based on that child , even when the custodial
parent has released the exemption to him.
But, the custodial parent may claim the amounts paid by both parents in calculating the dependent care credit.the
What if divorced parents split physical custody of the child 50/50? When 1 parent claims irs dependency of the child, can the other parent claim 50% of the child care expenses, which they actually do pay?
NO. Only one parent may claim the child care credit and that parent is the custodial parent.
For tax purposes, there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent and the other the non-custodial parent.
But, the custodial parent may count the money paid by the non-custodial parent in calculating the child care credit for herself. The general rule is that a taxpayer must actually make the payment (as well as be legally liable to pay it) to get the deduction. However, there is a recent tax court ruling that seems to say that you can take the deduction even if he was the one that actually paid it under the theory that his paying the expense is just another form of child support and it was your money that paid for it.
Regarding "When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit " if I am the custodial parent but not claiming my son as a dependent this year (and my divorced spouse is claiming our son as dependent) what status do I use for my son in TurboTax to be able to claim what I paid to child care? I don't want to claim my son as dependent but do want to deduct the day care I paid. How do I do this using TurboTax?
Enter the child as a dependent, at the personal info setion. Then carefully go thru the dependent interview, which will establish you as the custodial parent. You will reach a screen that asks are you allowing the other parent to claim the child this year.
Ah... Thanks. I found my mistake. Even though his father & I share custody during the year I needed to report that my son lived with me for the full year. Then I did the interview as you suggested and at the end it now shows him with the status "Nondependent - for EIC/dependent care only" ... just as you suggested. Thanks. This is consistent with what the IRS publication indicated. So it IS true that I can claim EIC/dependent care for a non-dependent child as long as I am the custodial parent and my spouse is taking the dependent credit in alternate years. I will claim the expenses that I paid for child care for 2014.
Did what, exactly? By IRS rejected, do you mean your e-file was rejected or you were sent a letter by the IRS denying some tax benefit?
I am filing my daughters return. She is claiming single and has twin girls. The father claimed the children as dependents and EIC. He did not claim the child care credit. I claimed the girls on my daughters return as Non-dependent child EIC/dependent care only. Turbo Tax said she qualifed for the EIC and child care. E filed her return last night and said it was rejected with this error SEIC-F1040-606-01, the qualifying child's social security number cannot be used more than once in a tax return or on another return.
The father has claimed something he shouldn't, the EIC. Your daughter will have to print and mail her return. She should also let the father know that he needs to file an amended return, unclaiming the EIC, which he is not allowed. He is allowed the Child Tax Credit. That answer assumes the parents don't live together and your daughter is the custodial parent.
The irs rejected the efile stating that the ssn of the child couldn't be filed twice as listed above ... what I found was it cannot be used for the EIC twice. Try resubmitting without claiming the EIC. Unless under certain special situations which idk how the government expects us to prove with efile or the questions on the efile bc it told me that they would be nondependts and we both could claim the EIC.... what we did was I claimed the kids and got the EIC my seperated wife claimed the daycare but not the EIC and it was accepted
One parent cannot claim the day care credit while the other claims the EIC. See above ("The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.") Your e-file may have been accepted, for now. But the parent that claimed EIC will be hearing from the IRS
Hal_Al - Can you please tell me what tax ruling you refer to when you say the custodial parent can claim daycare expenses paid by the noncustodial parent? I understand my ex is not supposed to claim and daycare expenses but I just need SOMETHING from the IRS/Law/Rulings stating that I can claim expenses he paid.
The theory is that daycare is just another form of child support. The child support money you receive and they pay out is considered you spending your money. You can "google it" yourself.
(Dead link removed 4-1-20 Ohio bar association opinion supporting that theory)
I know we only split the last 6 months of the year. I allowed him to claim the kids and I was custodial and only claimed the daycare. In which I paid for. If you look up on the it's website it explains it for divorce and separated parents alike
So I am getting confused, we have 50/50 custody so the agreement was to claim our son every other year. So on the years that I would claim him what can I claim so that my ex can claim for payment of half the daycare? would he put it in as child support? ( he doesn't pay support at all currently) if so then what do I put on my side since I just put all the daycare payment in as you said above.
Only the CUSTODIAL parent (which the IRS defines as the parent with whom the child spent the greater numbers of nights during the tax year) can claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit. The Child and Dependent Care Credit cannot be split.
I know but we literally split the year. that's why we do every other year. so on the year that I would be the "custodial Parent" in terms of doing taxes the non custodial parent can't do anything they get screwed out of money they paid?
@lepard1980 said: "...we literally split the year..." If *exactally* split even then each parent would have had the child 182.5 days (365/2) which means that *neither* parent had the child *more* than 1/2 the year (at least 183 nights) so *nobody* can claim the child at all. It is highly unlikely that it would be exactally equal for both parents.
There is no such thing in the Federal tax law as 50/50, split, or joint custody. The IRS only recognizes physical custody (which parent the child lived with the greater part, but over half, of the tax year. That parent is the custodial parent; the other parent is the noncustodial parent.)
Who can claim the exemption and credits depends on who is the custodial parent. (By the IRS definition of custodial parent for tax purposes - this is not the same as the legal custody that a court might grant.).
The test that the IRS uses to determine the custodial parent is where the child lived for more than 1/2 (or greater part) of the year. The IRS will go so far as to require counting the nights spend in each household - that person is the custodial parent for tax purposes (if exactly equal and more than 183 days - The custodial parent is the parent with the highest AGI, if less than 183 days then neither parent has custody so the child cannot be claimed by either parent). And yes they are that picky.
For these rules See Custodial parent and noncustodial parent under the residency test in Pub 17
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170899">https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170899</a>
OK this has not been helpful lol..... we don't care who has our child per day a year. that's why we switch who's return has him as a dependent. I will consult someone in person or split our returns like we did this year. Tax laws need to update, I mean more than the country is probably divorce with kids.
"But, the custodial parent may count the money paid by the non-custodial parent in calculating the child care credit for herself. The general rule is that a taxpayer must actually make the payment (as well as be legally liable to pay it) to get the deduction. However, there is a recent tax court ruling that seems to say that you can take the deduction even if he was the one that actually paid it under the theory that his paying the expense is just another form of child support and it was your money that paid for it. "
This is what is says above, so if the custodial is claiming the money that the non-custodial parent paid is says in theory that is would be considered child support. hence why I asked if they would claim it as child support.
Child support payments are never deductible.
The non-custodial (by IRS definition) parent CANNOT claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit, either in whole or in part.
"we don't care who has our child per day a year"
No, but the IRS does care - because that's how they determine which parent is the CUSTODIAL parent.