Daycare expense deposit

[reacharvi]

My son started going to daycare from Jan 02, 2017. However, I paid $600 in Dec, 2016 as a deposit (which will be used for the last 2 weeks of his daycare service, when we remove him from daycare with a 2 weeks notice). Can I claim the $600 as daycare expense for 2016, though the service started in 2017?

[DexterS · Accepted solution]

Sorry, here's what the IRS says about prepayments.

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.