Dependet Tax Questions

[bramaeker]

Greetings,

We have a clarifying question regarding Dependent Care Benefits Part III question 12 of our tax returns. Question 12 states, " Enter the total amount of dependent care benefits you received in 2020. Amounts you received as an employee should be shown in box 10 of your Form W-2." In one of our W-2 forms, we have $67 associated with this question. We do not have dependents or child care responsibilities. Our concern is how is this affecting our returns.

Please let me know if you need more information. 

Kindly,

Ben Ramaeker 

[Mike9241]

that amount will end up being included in wages on line 1 of the return. you'll also see form 2441

[DawnC]

If you have $67 in Box 10 of a Form W-2, that amount gets added back into your taxable income.   If you had dependent care expenses to enter, those expenses would offset the income that was added back from Box 10.   

The amounts in Box 10 were pre-tax dollars.  Since you don't have expenses, the $67 is added back to your taxable income.   Doublecheck with your employer to confirm the amounts in Box 10.  

Box 10 of your W-2 shows the total amount of dependent care benefits that your employer paid to you or incurred on your behalf. Amounts over $5,000 ($2,500 in the case of a separate return filed by a married individual) are also included in box 1.    You must complete Part III of Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses to figure the amount, if any, that you can exclude from your income.   Without child care expenses, you can't exclude the amounts so they are added back in.