"Child and Dependent Care Credit" endless loop

[mc510]

When I get to Federal Review, it says "your Child and Dependent Care Credit info is incomplete." So I click to go back and complete that section, which asks "do you want to work on the child and dependent care credit now." I select "yes" and on the next screen I confirm that neither I nor my spouse was a student or disabled next year, and then when I click "continue" it takes me back to the Federal Review screen that says that my child and dependent care credit info is incomplete. I've clicked around this loop 10 times and haven't found a way to actually enter any additional information (as the Federal Review is telling me that I must do). So frustrating, what am I supposed to be doing here?

[DawnC]

Are you taking the Child and Dependent Care credit?  If so, verify the credit is showing on your return.  The message should not prevent you from e-filing.  You can get out of the review and go directly to that section and go through those questions again and update any information there (instead of trying to figure out what the review wants you to do). 

In the search field in TurboTax, search for child care credit.  Select the Jump to link and we'll take you right there.

Related Information:

• What is the Child and Dependent Care Credit?
• Who is a Qualifying Person for the Child and Dependent Care Credit?
• How do I preview my tax return?

[mc510]

Look, I'm not "taking" any credits; I'm just entering the information that TurboTax is asking for, and I'm counting on TurboTax to give me the credits that I'm entitled to. When I search for "child care credit" and go directly to that page, it's exactly the same as I described earlier. I click "Yes" I do want to work on it now, I then confirm that neither I nor my spouse were students or disabled in 2019, and then TurboTax takes me back to the Deductions overview page. And the Federal Review again tells me that I'm missing information for the Child and Dependent Care Credit. 

[DanaB27 · Accepted solution]

Did you enter any earned income (for example W-2) for both of you? Because the question about being students or disabled in 2019 should only come up if you don't have earned income entered. 

One of the requirements for the Child Care and Dependent Credit is that you need to have earned income if you are not a student or disabled. Please see What is the Child and Dependent Care Credit? for details on the requirements.

If you do not qualify for the Credit then please follow these instructions to delete the information to avoid the error: How do I delete Form 2441 in TurboTax Online?

[mc510]

Thanks, one of us did not have earned income in 2019; I was able to delete Form 2441 and the error message is gone. Was I supposed to figure this out on my own? I thought TurboTax was supposed to handle everything on its own and I would just need to enter the data that it requests 😕 

[Eug_ene]

I'm in this same loop!

My wife does have earned income (w2), I'm self employed, and we're filing jointly. 

For some reason TurboTax is not recognizing our earned income. Any ideas why? 

Thanks!

[VictoriaD75]

Does your business show a profit? A net loss from self-employment can reduce earned income and your ability to claim the credit. Both the taxpayer and spouse must have earned income to qualify.

Child and Dependent Care Credit

Publication 503

[Eug_ene]

Thanks for the reply. 

Ah, my business shows a net loss. So that must disqualify me from earned income. So if I understand it correctly then, because only my spouse shows earned income and not BOTH of us, we can not claim the credit?

[VictoriaD75]

Correct. Both spouses must show earned income to claim the child and dependent care credit.

[spatch1215]

I think there may be a glitch in Turbotax form 2441, Dependent Care Credit? If you start this turbotax form BEFORE both parents' W-2s are filled out, I think it assumes someone isn't working, won't ask you for your daycare expenses (it keeps asking if either of you are disabled or a full time student instead), and will thus make your FSA contributions taxable? And it didn't self-correct when the other W-2 is eventually entered. So once BOTH W-2s are entered, try deleting any previous form 2441 (see below), and re-enter the Dependent Care Section (form 2441) questions again. It then FINALLY asked me for my daycare expenses and worked fine!

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/small-business-processes/delete-form-244...

[barbieri-rob]

Hmm. I guess it's not counting my royalties as earned income, even though that's how I get paid for my work, and as far as I know, they are supposed to count.

But I think the point is that TT isn't popping up with a message that the person isn't qualified... It just isn't answering.

[barbieri-rob]

In the royalties section, it didn't even ask who earned the royalties, so it wouldn't count it as earned income for the purposes of this credit. That's pretty frustrating.