Pre-kindergarden and kindergarden costs

[walkair05]

Hello.

I have two questions for you.

1) I have my four-year-old in a pre-kindergarden program for schooling/child care.  Does this cost go under school tuition or childcare?

2) I paid my daughter's 2020 kindergarden tuition in 2019 to reserve her spot in the program for this next year.  Do I include that in school costs for 2019 because I paid them in 2019, or for 2020 because that it the school year I paid for?

Thank you,

Tiffany Walker

[Bsch4477]

Expenses prepaid in an earlier year.

If you pay for services before they are provided, you can count the prepaid expenses only in the year the care is received. Claim the expenses for the later year as if they were actually paid in that later year.

Consider the costs as child care for the child care credit but only if the care is required so that you and your spouse (if applicable) can work. They are not tuition expenses. 

[DavidS127]

Expenses for a child in nursery school, preschool, or similar programs for children below the level of kindergarten are expenses for care.  You can use these for the Child and Dependent Care Credit as long as they were required for you to work.

Kindergarten tuition is not deductible or eligible for the credit regardless of when it is paid.  But, the cost of care before and after kindergarten is eligible for the Child and Dependent Care Credit (if required for you to work).

Note that this describes the Federal treatment of these expenses; treatment at the state level may be different.