My dependent care credit summary looks wrong, like I double counted my expenses

[rhodesej]

I'm asked how much I paid for my 2 kids care, including FSA amounts. I entered those, which totals about $8500.

It then says I have almost 8k of employer provided benefits, and that my expenses must be more. Below that it lists my kids expenses, but they don't reflect what I actually put on that form - it's about 1k lower than I entered.
. Then it asks for what I paid care providers. I put the 8.5k amount I did at the beginning

The summary page shows I have 15k of eligible daycare expenses, subtracts my 8k if W2 benefits, and ends up calculating a $743 credit. I apparently then pay taxes on $6.5k if the dependent care benefits.

This is confusing and seems wrong, but I followed the prompts exactly. How would I get 15k of eligible expenses?

Can anyone clear this up? How else would I fill this out?

[BillM223]

What is your spouse's earned income? 

That Summary screen is very confusing if your spouse had little or no earned income.

So please share with us your Summary:

Eligible dependent care expenses - $12,500

Dependent care benefits from your W-2 - $7,500?

Expenses eligible for credit - 5,000?

Lesser of expenses or spouse's earned income - ?

Credit percentage - ?

Credit you will receive - 743.00

Dependent car benefits you must pay taxes on - 6,500?

[rhodesej]

Yep, my wife doesn't have much earned income.

Eligible dependent care expenses - $14,986

Dependent care benefits from your W-2 - $7,917

Expenses eligible for credit - $7,069

Lesser of expenses or spouse's earned income - $1,485

Credit percentage - 50%

Credit you will receive - 743.00

Dependent car benefits you must pay taxes on - 6,432

I filled in these amounts

Total dependent care expenses paid for child 1: 4464

Total dependent care expenses paid for child 2: 4090

(this totals the $8554 that I filled in for amount paid on care providers)

Yet it seemed to "autocorrect" those amounts to 3,689 and 3,380, respectively, totaling the 7,069.

[BillM223 · Accepted solution]

"Eligible dependent care expenses - $14,986" Honestly, at the moment, I can't tell you where the 14,986 is coming from.

"Lesser of expenses or spouse's earned income - $1,485

Credit percentage - 50%

Credit you will receive - 743.00

Dependent car benefits you must pay taxes on - 6,432"

These numbers make sense. I would encourage you to look at your 2441 (and not what's on the input screens) to make sure that the arithmetic is good and self-explanatory.