How can custodial parent who doesn't claim a child as dependent file for child care credit in Turbotax?

[thierryvanbast]

Re: claiming child care credit, I read on Intuit the following:

Only the custodial parent can claim the child care credit. And to claim the credit, the person claiming the expense must have paid it. To be your qualifying child for this credit, a child must live with you for more than half the year and meet other requirements.

I am the custodial parent but my partner claims our child as her dependent.  The Dependent Care Credit portion of TurboTax does not appear to offer that option.  How can I claim the child care credit?

Thanks for any advice.

Thierry van Bastelaer

[xmasbaby0]

What do you mean by "my partner?"   If you and your partner and the child are all living together as a family then only one of you can claim the child.  There is no sharing of custody if you are all living together.   The "custodial parent" stuff has to do with divorced or never-married parents who live apart.

One of you can file Head of Household and claim the child and the child-related credits; the other files Single and does not enter anything about the child on their return.

[Hal_Al]

The rule for allowing the custodial parent to claim the dependent care credit doesn't apply, in your case, since it (apparently) is not the non custodial parent who is claiming the child, as a dependent.

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents (or their partners) who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.

[Opus 17]

If you live together unmarried, the special rules for "splitting" dependent benefits don't apply.  (They only apply to divorced or separated parents who live apart.).  If you live together unmarried with the child's other parent, only one of you can claim the dependent and that person must claim all the benefits, the other parent should not even list the child on their tax return.

If you live apart and share custody, then only the parent where the child physically lives more than half the nights of the year has the automatic right to claim the child as a dependent.  The custodial parent can release the child tax credit to the other parent with form 8332, but the ability to use the dependent care credit always stays with the custodial parent and can't be waived or transferred.  

If you are the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent wants to claim the child for the child tax credit, you have to give them a form 8332 release.  Then in turbotax, you need to indicate the child lived with you more than half the year (don't pick "6 months" because the program interprets that as exactly half, and exactly half is not more than half.). Then you are asked if you have a custody agreement (yes) and if the other parent will claim the child under that agreement (yes).  Turbotax should list the child as "not a dependent, use for EIC and dependent care only" or something like that.  You would then be eligible to enter dependent care expenses. 

[thierryvanbast]

Thanks very much for the prompt and useful response!