Why would my 15m old daughter not show as available for dependent care credit, she lives with me and her mother full time mother does not claim her as dependent I do?

[dweimer1]

We are not married but live together. I claim our daughter as I am primary wage earner, and pay for all the daycare and household bills. We both work full time and use a day care provider. However Turbo tax won't let me select our daughter in order to enter dependent care credit. The help on why she doesn't qualify doesn't seem to list any reason that she wouldn't count.

[npierson7]

You will generally qualify for the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit if you meet all of the following conditions:

• You must have earned income. 
• Your filing status is single, MFJ or Head of Household. 
• You (and your spouse if Married Filing Jointly) earned income from employment or self-employment.
• You paid someone to provide care for a Qualifying Person, and the care provider was not someone you could claim as a dependent, the parent of your Qualifying Person, your spouse, or your child under the age of 19 (regardless of whether they are a dependent).
• You had to pay for child or dependent care so that you (and your spouse if Married Filing Jointly) could work, seek employment, or attend school, or if you were disabled.
• Child care provider information need to be complete, including name, address and SSN or EIN.

if you do qualify based on the below, you might want to check your entries.

You can learn more about the credit here:

Child and Dependent Care Expenses

[dweimer1]

I see no reason that I wouldn't be able to qualify, however when I go to enter the data I can't get to the point of putting in the care providers information as the first option is to select your dependent, at which point it doesn't list my daughter, but instead has a link to explain why she doesn't qualify.

The only possible reason I can see is that we opened an account in her name and have started placing money in it for her to use later, for college, wedding or house down payment if she doesn't go to college. The amount deposited over the course of the year is slightly above the $4,300 earned income that a dependent can earn. Most of this came from monthly deposits I made and some from gifts from grand parents for Christmas and birthday.

Did the added expense I made in order to help my daughter prepare for her future have a negative impact on my possibility to maximize my deductions?

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

It wouldn't make any difference that you put money away for your daughter, it is not income to her.

There may be a problem with your answers regarding her being listed as your dependent. I would go back through the personal information regarding her. You may also try deleting her as your dependent and then entering that information back in.

[dweimer1]

Deleting my daughter from the dependent list and re adding her allowed me to enter the information.