I forgot to clarify, my partner is also the mother of the child. Does this change anything? And will she then have to claim that income on her taxes as from self-employment?
@teamwork911 The fact that your partner is also the child's mother changes everything. You cannot pay the child's own mother as a paid childcare provider to get the childcare credit. The IRS does not allow it.
The Child and Dependent Care Credit (not to be confused with the similar-sounding Child Tax Credit) can reduce your tax bill if you paid for a dependent's care so that you could work or look for work.
To qualify for this credit, you must meet all of these criteria:
You paid a caregiver to care for a Qualifying Person. The caregiver can't be:
Your spouse
Your dependent
Your child if they were under 19 on the last day of 2021, even if not your dependent
The parent of the Qualifying Person, if the Qualifying Person is your child under the age of 13 during 2021
The credit is worth as much as 50% of your qualified expenses, up to $8,000, (for one qualifying person), and $16,000 (for two or more qualifying persons). Your percentage depends on your AGI, with the higher percentages applying to lower incomes and vice-versa.
As an example, a married couple supporting two qualifying persons who paid $16,000 in qualified expenses may qualify for up to $8,000 in credits, depending on their AGI.
TurboTax will determine your eligibility and calculate the maximum credit allowed.
Sorry then you can't use her as the caregiver.
The caregiver can't be:
Does she have any other income? If she lived with you the whole year you may be able to claim her as a dependent if she had less than 4,300 income.
And you probably can file as Head of Household claiming your child.