If I am paying for day care for my son do I need to claim him as a dependent on my taxes?

[xmasbaby0]

 Only the custodial parent can claim the childcare credit.    Does the child live with you?

[Hal_Al]

Q. In order to claim the dependent care credit,  do I need to claim him as a dependent on my taxes?

A. No, but you do need to be the custodial parent, whether the child is a dependent or not.

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.

Note in particular that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has released the dependency to him.