Child and Dependent Care Expenses

[jman3]

I signed up for a dependent care FSA and it is reported in box 10 of my W2. I contributed the maximum of $10,500 last year (she did not have a DC-FSA), but now my spouse and I are considering filing as married separately. My understanding is that I would then only be eligible for half of that amount and the other $5,250 would be considered an excess contribution if filing separately. The form 2441 that is being generated in line 12 lists $5,250, even though my W2 input has $10,500. The program is not carrying through the right W2 amount for some reason into the 2441 line 12 and it seems that there were no excess contributions (so line 26 shows $0). Is this an error that needs to be corrected or can I leave it as is? Thanks!

[HelenC12 · Accepted solution]

TurboTax is correct. Leave it "as is". TurboTax removes the "excess contribution" by adding the $5,250 back into taxable income. The $5,250 appears in your Form 1040, line 1 with a DCB (Dependent Care benefits) notation.

You can preview your 1040 to verify the same tax treatment.