Child care credit question

[jillianvanderplo]

If you have a family member outside of the home (not your spouse or immediate relative) and you paid them for childcare, to my understanding you can claim this expense on your tax return? Do you have to have formal documentation given to that care person such as a W-2 to be able to actually claim the money you paid the person for childcare?

[ChristinaS · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can claim a Dependent Care Credit for paying a non-immediate family provider. There is an assumption that anything on your tax return can be substantiated, though this is not actually one of the more controversial areas so far as that goes. The instructions for the form do not list examples of supporting documentation, and most people don't get formal invoices from babysitters. You don't give casual babysitters W2s and you don't issue 1099s to childcare providers outside of your home. W2s go to live-in nannies.

If you know how much you paid, presumably you have some log of your expenses. Keep this with your records. There's no reason you should expect to need formal documentation for standard babysitting.

You do need to list the person's address and Social Security number, or you need to document their refusal to provide the SSN. That's the big issue here. This family member needs to have this income on their tax return.

With this information handy, go to:

• Federal Taxes- Deductions and Credits
• scroll down to You and Your Family- Child and Dependent Care Credit
• begin to answer the questions about the expenses and your child

Actual tax benefits vary from taxpayer to taxpayer.

[ChristinaS]

(unrelated or non-immediate family member)