Child and Dependent Care Credit - Mom Not Working Due To H4 Visa

[suhel-banerjee]

Apparently we're not eligible to receive Child and Dependent Care Credit for our daughter's daycare expenses in 2016 because "To qualify for this credit, both you and XXXX (my wife) need to have earned income, which is money earned from a job. We don't see any for your spouse yet. If XXX had earned income last year, enter it in Wages & Income and then come back to see if you qualify for this credit."

This is odd because my wife is on a H4 visa which doesn't make her eligible to work, and so she can't have an income, so we're being penalized from getting a tax credit because we're not being allowed to work due to immigration rules?

Thanks,
Suhel

[Anita01 · Accepted solution]

The only purpose of allowing you to deduct child care is so that you can both work. Child care expenses incurred for any other reason are not deductible.  If one or both of you do not have earnings, then the child care was spent for some reason other than allowing you to work, so expenses are not eligible for a credit.