Child care and self employment

[lrmcholford]

The personal deduction portion is saying I can not count child care expenses because one of us does not have earned income. My husbands income is in the business portion. How can I fix this?

[Lisa995]

Does he have a net profit on his Self Employment business?  If he has a loss, child care credit wont be calculated.

[jerry2000 · Accepted solution]

To qualify for the child tax credit, both of you must have earned income. That can be from wages, or from net profit from a business. Income from a business is not enough, there must be a net profit to qualify. If the business has a net loss, then the person owning the business has no earned income for purposes of the child tax credit.