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June 5, 2019
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Can my wife claim child care expenses while filing married separately?

  • June 5, 2019
  • 1 reply
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By Wife and I still live together. However, we are filing Married Separately. My wife is claiming our child as she made less money than I did last year. How does she claim the Child Care expenses? We both contributed $1,482 towards child care expenses last year.

Best answer by Coleen3

No.

Topic Number 602 - Child and Dependent Care Credit

You may be able to claim the child and dependent care credit if you paid expenses for the care of a qualifying individual to enable you (and your spouse, if filing a joint return) to work or actively look for work. You may not take this credit if your filing status is married filing separately. The amount of the credit is a percentage of the amount of work-related expenses you paid to a care provider for the care of a qualifying individual. The percentage depends on your adjusted gross income.

1 reply

Coleen3Answer
Employee
June 5, 2019

No.

Topic Number 602 - Child and Dependent Care Credit

You may be able to claim the child and dependent care credit if you paid expenses for the care of a qualifying individual to enable you (and your spouse, if filing a joint return) to work or actively look for work. You may not take this credit if your filing status is married filing separately. The amount of the credit is a percentage of the amount of work-related expenses you paid to a care provider for the care of a qualifying individual. The percentage depends on your adjusted gross income.

bennettozAuthor
June 5, 2019
What's the purpose of not allowing this tax deduction. Just because we are going to file separately doesn't mean we didn't have to pay someone else to watch our child while we worked.