Childcare Expenses when child turned 13 end of year

[joetaxes]

I paid for summer camp for my child when they were age 12 but turned 13 in Dec. TT won’t let me claim her for childcare because she’s not 12 but was 12 when they went to the camp. How can I fix this error in TT?

[MarilynG1]

As of today, I was able to enter Child Care Expenses for a Dependent that turned 13 in December of 2023 in the TurboTax interview without issue.

I entered the total expense, and TurboTax calculated a % based on time prior to age 13 on Form 2441, excluding a Child Care Benefit from my employer on my W-2, Box 10.

Here's more info on How to Claim the Child Care Credit.

Please comment back if this still doesn't work for you.  You may need to Delete Form 2441, and go through the interview again. 

@joetaxes 

[Edited 2/15/2024 | 6:52 pm]

[rjs]

Your TurboTax software might need to be updated. The problem with a child who turned 13 during the year was a bug in TurboTax for 2023 a couple of months ago, but it was fixed in an update. It works correctly with the latest updates. To update your TurboTax software in Windows, on the Online menu select Check for Updates.

[joetaxes]

Hello. I tired forms mode but TT wouldn’t let me enter the data. (I did update TT too)

[joetaxes]

I updated TT to no avail. 

[rjs]

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@joetaxes wrote:

TT wouldn’t let me enter the data.

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It's not clear what you mean by "wouldn’t let me." Did you follow the instructions that MarilynG1 gave you? You have to enter the expenses on the Dependent and Non-Dependent Information Worksheet for the child, not on Form 2441.

Have you entered your income? You can't get the child care credit unless you have income from working - either a W-2 or a net profit on Schedule C (with some possible exceptions that the TurboTax interview will ask you about). If you have a business loss on Schedule C that doesn't count as income. If you are married filing jointly your spouse also has to have income from working.

Double-check the date of birth that you entered for the child.

Are there any errors on Form 2441 or the Dependent and Non-Dependent Information Worksheet for the child? In forms mode does either of them have a red exclamation point in the forms list or say "Not Done"?

What is the exact message in TurboTax telling you that you can't claim the credit - the entire message, word for word?