I filled in $5000 on Box 10 of W2, then filled in child care expenses. Says i'm not eligible, but my refund total still went up sharply. I'm afraid it's still claiming the child care credit even though i don't qualify.

[MaryK1 · Accepted solution]

You do not qualify for the Child Tax Credit BECAUSE you had Child Care Expenses at work, which are not taxable income if used for child care.  Turbo Tax had the $5000 as taxable UNTIL you entered the Child Care Expenses in the Deductions and Credit section.  Your refund went up because the $5000 was removed from taxable income.  You will see these amounts in Part III of the Form 2441.  If your benefit was less than the $5000 max, you may have had a partial credit. 

[dcgbills]

Thanks, I think I get it now.  Turbo Tax counts the $5000 I entered in Box 10 as taxable income until I enter child care expenses in the Deductions section?  So the refund then goes up by $5000 multiplied by my marginal tax rate.    For example only, if my Box 1 was $100k and Box 10 was $5k, Turbo Tax assumes I owe tax on $105k until I enter in my $5k child care expenses. At that point, Turbo Tax no longer recognizes Box 10 as taxable income and I'm back to being taxed at $100k (before all other deductions of course).

[MaryK1]

Exactly.  Turbo Tax does the math but not until you enter for the expenses

[dcgbills]

Thanks.  I was a little thrown off because the dependent care benefit is taken out of my paycheck pre-tax and it's not included in the Box 1 total.  I guess it makes sense because I need to prove to the IRS that the pre-taxed amount was actually used for its express purpose (even though i sent proof to the benefits administrator too).  Thanks again!