Can I claim half of my child daycare even if the other parent is claiming her?

[sdotburnett]

Me and the mother split the daycare 50/50 but turbo tax isn't letting claim it becuz she doesn't qualify as a dependent

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

 No, unless the child lives with you. Only one parent may claim the child care credit and that parent is the custodial parent. It is not necessary that you be claiming the child as dependent, if you are the custodial parent. But that assumes you are separated from the other parent. If you and the other parent live together, than you do have to be the parent claiming the child as a dependent, to get the day care credit.

 For tax purposes, there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent and the other the non-custodial parent.
But, the custodial parent may count the money paid by the non-custodial parent in calculating the child care credit for herself. The general rule is that a taxpayer must actually make the payment (as well as be legally liable to pay it) to get the deduction. However, there is a recent tax court ruling that seems to say that you can take the deduction even if he was the one that actually paid it under the theory that his paying the expense is just another form of child support and it was your money that paid for it.

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 exemption to him. 

But, the custodial parent may claim the amounts paid by both parents in calculating the dependent care credit.the 

[cwade1211]

What if divorced parents split physical custody of the child 50/50? When 1 parent claims irs dependency of the child, can the other parent claim 50% of the child care expenses, which they actually do pay?

[Hal_Al]

NO. Only one parent may claim the child care credit and that parent is the custodial parent.
 For tax purposes, there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent and the other the non-custodial parent.
But, the custodial parent may count the money paid by the non-custodial parent in calculating the child care credit for herself. The general rule is that a taxpayer must actually make the payment (as well as be legally liable to pay it) to get the deduction. However, there is a recent tax court ruling that seems to say that you can take the deduction even if he was the one that actually paid it under the theory that his paying the expense is just another form of child support and it was your money that paid for it.

[tomandjerry]

Regarding "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 " if I am the custodial parent but not claiming my son as a dependent this year (and my divorced spouse is claiming our son as dependent) what status do I use for my son in TurboTax to be able to claim what I paid to child care? I don't want to claim my son as dependent but do want to deduct the day care I paid.  How do I do this using TurboTax?

[Hal_Al]

Enter the child as a dependent, at the personal info setion.  Then carefully go thru the dependent  interview, which will establish you as the custodial parent. You will reach a screen that asks are you allowing the other parent to claim the child this year.

[tomandjerry]

Ah... Thanks.  I found my mistake.  Even though his father & I share custody during the year I needed to report that my son lived with me for the full year.  Then I did the interview as you suggested and at the end it now shows him with the status "Nondependent - for EIC/dependent  care only" ... just as you suggested.  Thanks.  This is consistent with what the IRS publication indicated.  So it IS true that I can claim EIC/dependent care for a non-dependent child as long as I am the custodial parent and my spouse is taking the dependent credit in alternate years.  I will claim the expenses that I paid for child care for 2014.

[Hal_Al]

.Ok

[powersjm05]

I did this the same way but It got rejected....

[wanda_47]

I also did this and IRS rejected it.

[Hal_Al]

Did what, exactly? By IRS rejected, do you mean your e-file was rejected or you were sent a letter by the IRS denying some tax benefit?

[wanda_47]

I am filing my daughters return.  She is claiming single and has twin girls. The father claimed the children as dependents and EIC.  He did not claim the child care credit.  I claimed the girls on my daughters return as Non-dependent child EIC/dependent care only.  Turbo Tax said she qualifed for the EIC and child care. E filed her return last night and said it was rejected  with this error SEIC-F1040-606-01, the qualifying child's social security number cannot be used more than once in a tax return or on another return.

[Hal_Al]

The father has claimed something he shouldn't, the EIC. Your daughter will have to print and mail her return. She should also let the father know that he needs to file an amended return, unclaiming the EIC, which he is not allowed. He is allowed the Child Tax Credit. That answer assumes the parents don't live together and your daughter is the custodial parent.

[powersjm05]

The irs rejected the efile stating that the ssn of the child couldn't be filed twice as listed above ... what I found was it cannot be used for the EIC  twice. Try resubmitting without claiming the EIC. Unless under certain special situations which idk how the government expects us to prove with efile or the questions on the efile bc it told me that they would be nondependts and we both could claim the EIC.... what we did was I claimed the kids and got the EIC my seperated wife claimed the daycare but not the EIC  and it was accepted

[Hal_Al]

One parent cannot claim the day care credit while the other claims the EIC. See above ("The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.") Your e-file may have been accepted, for now. But the parent that claimed EIC  will be hearing from the IRS