Child care credit - inconsistent qualification messages in TT

[jimmy14]

I paid around $2000 last year for my child's nanny care and my employer's Dependent Care FSA reimbursed $1500. Both my wife and I have earned income well above $2000. When I completed the section, the "Child and Dependent Care Credit Summary" says "Great news! You qualify for this credit." and proceeds to show me the calculation and the final credit. However, when I click on Continue, the next page says "It turns out you don't qualify for this credit" without giving an explanation. This appears to be a bug in TT. Has anyone figure out what's going on?

[DawnC]

Do you have all of your Box 10 information entered from your W-2s?    Going back over the personal information for the qualifying person and making sure the dependent meets all of the requirements.   Make sure you have your W-2 listed to the correct person so you are not showing earned income only for one of you.   

Did you enter your caregiver/nanny's tax id number?    Go back through the Dependent Care Credit section again and make sure all expenses are entered and all of the nanny's information is entered.   

The Ins and Outs of the Dependent Care Tax Credit

[jimmy14]

I've checked box 10 of my W2 was filled out and that the W2's were attributed to me and my spouse correctly. I also checked to make sure my dependent is eligible. I entered the nanny's SSN and all required info as well. So it doesn't seem like I'm missing anything.

Again, it seems that TT is giving conflicting info between the two summary screens.

[ShirlynW]

There are several reasons you may not qualify. Without knowing you tax situation, I cannot give you a definite answer.

For more information, there is a flowchart on page 5 of IRS Pub. 503  you can follow to understand why you were unable to use the credit.

[jimmy14]

I went through every item on the flow chart and arrive at the box that says I qualify.

Again, TT was telling me I qualify in one screen and not in the next summary screen without any additional input. One would at least expect the software to be internally consistent. 

What can I do to get this resolved next?

[AmeliesUncle · Accepted solution]

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@jimmy14 wrote:

One would at least expect the software to be internally consistent. 

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You must be new to TurboTax.  🤣

Is the credit showing up on Form 2441 and line 2 of Schedule 3?  If not, look closely at Form 2441 to see where it is 'stopping' the credit.

[jimmy14]

Thanks! The credit indeed appears on Form 2441 and Schedule 3 line 2. So this was just a TT display problem.

I've been using TT for years now and something has been wrong with TT every year (except one year when it matched my workbook).  This is the first time there are obvious conflicting messages next to each other on TT though 🙂