Can I get credit for child care if my child's mother is also getting credit for our son's child care?

[swobniarone]

My fiance and I have 2 children, she claims the youngest on her taxes and I claim the oldest. Since she claims the youngest she puts all of his childcare in on his taxes. However, after I fill my child and dependent care credit section with our older son's information TurboTax says they are including my younger child to add $481 to my credit even though I did not put in any childcare information for him. Is this allowed since his childcare is already added to his mother's taxes?

[Critter]

You must be very careful when answering the questions in the dependent section as it is trying to determine if you are the custodial or non custodial parent according to the IRS rules .... however if you all live together then only one person can claim all the dependent tax attributes for that child. 

Generally, only the custodial parent is eligible to claim the following tax breaks:

• the dependent's personal exemption
• head of household filing status (if applicable)
• child and dependent care tax credit
• child tax credit and additional child tax credit
• earned income tax credit, and
• exclusion for dependent care benefits

However, the custodial parent can waive his or her right to claim a dependent in favor of the non-custodial parent. The non-custodial parent would then be able to claim:

• the dependent's personal exemption,
• child tax credit and additional child tax credit, and
• tuition and fees deduction or the education tax credits

[kpax0316]

Turbo tax does not give me the option to not have my younger son added in on the childcare section, do you know how I remove him from that section. Should I just not put him in my dependent section at all, I did indicate in the dependent section that he would be claimed by his mother.

[Critter]

Here are instructions on how to delete the Child Dependent Care form 2441:
1. While signed in to your return, search for child care credit (use this exact term; if necessary, copy/paste from here).
o Click the Jump to child care credit link in your search results.
2. At the Did you pay for child or dependent care in 2015? screen, answer Yes. (Even though it doesn't make sense.)
3. Continue to the Whose care did you pay for? screen and uncheck all boxes. Click Continue.
4. In the upper right corner, click My Account > Tools and then select Delete a Form from the options listed.
5. Scroll down the list of forms and click Delete next to 2441.
6. Click Delete Form to confirm. You should see the message Form Successfully Deleted. Click Continue.
7. Back at the Review Form List screen, scroll down to make sure 2441 no longer appears on the list.

[swobniarone]

Thank you