Child Care Expenses

[Kahrtn]

Why isn't turbo tax allowing me to enter my child care expenses?? I go through the form, answer the questions, then I'm redirected back to the home page. Is this happening to anyone else???

[xmasbaby0]

Have you entered the income you earned from working yet?   If you have not entered income from working then you will not be able to get the childcare credit.  If you are filing a joint return you must show income under each spouse's name.  If you have self-employment income but show a loss you cannot get the childcare credit.   Or--if you are the non-custodial parent you cannot get the childcare credit.

[PattiF]

You have to have income entered in the return for yourself, if single and for you both, if married filing joint. The program will not calculate the credit unless income is entered.

Here is a TurboTax help with more information about the Dependent Care Credit.

[Kahrtn]

Yes, I have entered my salary and everything else. The child expenses is the remaining piece. I don't get an error message or any pop up telling me I need to complete a different section before moving forward with that one. The window just closes and I'm back to square one. Very frustrating.

[JillS56]

There is a limit on the amount of income you earn to receive the Child Dependent Care Credit.   It may be that your income is too high and you are phased out of receiving any credit.  The credit is decreased by 50% for any amount between $125,000 and $183,000, where it is then phased out to 20%. This 20% lasts until the income reaches $400,000. The credit rate eventually completely phases out for families earning $438,000 or more.  

Another possibility do either you or your husband, if filing jointly, have FSA funds deducted from your pay to cover Child Dependent Care.   If you have entered all of the information for your child care and it doe not exceed the amount of your FSA there is no additional credit that you would be getting and that is why it is taking you back to the main screen.  If you are using TurboTax desktop, click on the Forms button in the upper right corner.   Look in the list of documents that pops up on the left-hand side of the screen and look for Form 2441.  If Form 2441 is there then look at the form and see if it lists the information you have entered.

If you have entered all of your dependent care information and it is not giving you a credit, then one of the two situations I mentioned above is probably the reason why.