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January 15, 2024
Question

Can I file my kids daycare costs if their father (we live together and are not married) files the children on his taxes?

  • January 15, 2024
  • 2 replies
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My children's father and I live together with our children. He files the children on his taxes and we equally take care of the children. I pay for childcare. How would I file the child care tax if I cannot claim them as dependents, being that we agreed for him to file them?

2 replies

Employee
January 15, 2024

No.   If all of you live together as a family, the children must be claimed on only one of your tax returns.   You do not "split" the child-related credits when you all live together.  So---if your BF is their bio-dad then he claims them and includes the childcare credit on his tax return.   You will have to work out how to share the refund between the two of you.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
January 15, 2024

just as an aside, when two people have meet the same criteria for claiming their child, the tax rules say it must be the one with the highest adjusted gross income.  if it's their father then he's properly claiming them.