Child and Dependent Care Credit shows $0 when it should be available

[whttiger25]

Hello, 

I contributed to and used $5000 for my dependent care FSA, and am aware I can't double dip on the benefit. However My expenses are $7920, so I expected $2920 to be available for the tax credit. It however shows $0. At the top of the final screen it says "Eligible Dependent care expenses: $5000" and below that "Dependent care benefits from your W-2" as -$5000 leaving $0 eligible. However in prior screens I clearly have $7920 eligible expenses entered. 

I am an HOH filer. Thanks 

[MarilynG1 · Accepted solution]

Since you can only claim $3000 per child this year, if you had only one child, and had 5K FSA benefit, you would not be eligible for a Dependent Care Credit.  The entire $3000 that you are eligible to claim was paid by your HSA. 

If you paid $7920 for two children, the limit being $6000, you would have $1000 of eligible expenses (after subtracting the 5K HSA from the 6K eligible amount).  

The best way to check this is to look at the calculations on Form 2441, which you can see when you save a PDF copy of your return to your computer.