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?
"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.
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?
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.
"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.