I have FSA account for child care for my son but I do not claim him on my tax return however im being asked to put in my sons info. will this mess up mom's tax return?

[kate-evans91]

I have a dependent care FSA account for my son through work and when I put in that information off my W2 it's asking for his social and information. His mother claims him on her taxes. Will me submitting his information be an issue with her claiming him? How do I go about adding that FSA amount from my W2 and I do not claim him as dependent?

[MichaelDC]

You don't have to claim the child in order to claim Child Care Credit or EIC for all children living with you. However, the child needs to live with you for you to claim the Child Care Credit or EIC.

If the child doesn't live with you, the dependent care benefits (FSA) from your W-2 will be taxable.

If your child did live with you:

Be sure to indicate that your children lived with you at least 7 months. Even though there is "shared custody," the children actually live with one of you more than the other.

At one point, you will see a screen where you indicate you are letting the other parent claim the child, as a dependent, this year. 

You will be able to claim the dependent care credit, earned income credit and head of household filing status, based on that child even though you are not claiming them as a dependent.

Here are the steps to claim the childcare fees. Note that you can only claim the fees that you paid during the year. The non-custodial parent won't be able to claim the dependent care credit even though he's claiming the child and paid for some childcare.

To enter your childcare expenses follow the steps below.

·        Click Deductions & Credits.

·        Continue to Deductions.

·        Click on I'll choose what I work on (if shown)

·        Scroll down until you see Child and Dependent Care Credit

·        Click Start

[Stacie]

And what if the child "did not live with you at least 6 months"?  How do I enter that into turbo tax given that I mistakenly signed up for dependent care benefits (FSA) at work?

[xmasbaby0]

If you will not be claiming your child as a dependent, and you are not the custodial parent, then when your FSA money is entered from your W-2--as it must be -- it will just become taxable income.