The Child and Dependent Care Credit is not necessarily 50% of the expenses. It depends on a number of factors. There are a lot of complicated rules. Here are a few possibilities.
Have you entered all your income? The Child Care Credit might not be accurate until you have entered all your income.
If your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on Form 1040 line 11 is more than $125,000 your credit will be less than 50%. It's a sliding scale depending on AGI.
Is there an amount in box 10 of your W-2? That indicates child care benefits from your employer. Any such benefits reduce the amount of your credit. It could be amounts paid to a care provider by the employer, the value of care provided by the employer, or amounts paid through a dependent care FSA.
The amount of expenses that can be used to calculate the credit might be less than $8,000. It cannot be more than your earned income. If you are married it cannot be more than your own earned income or your spouse's earned income, whichever is less. Earned income is basically wages and any net profit on Schedule C line 31. A net loss on Schedule C reduces your earned income. There could be adjustments to earned income in certain cases.
If your principal residence was not in the United States for more than half the year your credit will be reduced.
It's possible that you made a mistake entering something, or answered a question wrong. Go back through the interview for the Child Care Credit again and check all your answers. Also check your income entries.
You can look at Form 2441 to see how the credit was calculated. In TurboTax Online the only way to see the form is to "print" the tax return, i.e. create a PDF. You have to pay for TurboTax Online before you can print.
