Entitled to child care tax credit??

My husband and I do not claim his daughter on the taxes. The mother gets to claim every year, even though we pay $310 a month in child support and pay for her insurance. Question is...are we entitled to claim the child care tax credit since we are paying 100% of the daycare? Or, does the person claiming the child get to claim this even though she is not the one paying it? Please, answers!! We are in Illinois by the way.

Entitled to child care tax credit??

The whole point of child care credit is to give relief to parents who pay childcare expenses to enable those parents to go out to work rather than staying at home to look after the child. It follows that only the custodial parent can claim. However, if the custodial parent is not the one actually paying, no relief is due because she has paid nothing. Likewise, because your husband is not paying in order to be able to go out to work, he has no valid claim either.

I agree that your husband should consider looking at splitting custody for tax purposes, as suggested by other posters.

Good luck.

Entitled to child care tax credit??

2.3 Filing Requirements/Status/Dependents/Exemption... Dependents %26amp; Exemptions

How do you claim a child if you agree with your ex-spouse to claim him 6 months and he claims him the other 6 months of the year?

The dependency exemption can not be split. Generally, the custodial parent is treated as the parent who provided more than half of the child%26#039;s support. This parent is usually allowed to claim the exemption for the child if the other exemption tests are met. However, the noncustodial parent may be treated as the parent who provided more than half of the child%26#039;s support if certain conditions are met.

The custodial parent signs a Form 8332 (PDF), Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, or a substantially similar statement, and provides it to the noncustodial parent who attaches it to his or her return. Please beware that if the custodial parent releases the exception, the custodial parent may not claim the Child Tax Credit.

Refer to Publication 501, Exemption, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information or Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, for more information on the special rule for children of divorced or separated parents.

http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq-kw100.html

Entitled to child care tax credit??

It doesn%26#039;t look like you can. Only the custodial parent can.

Entitled to child care tax credit??

this is a good question. the only thing i am aware of that a non-custodial parent can take as a deduction is court ordered medical/health insurance and related health expenses for the child. unfortunately that may not help if u can%26#039;t itemize Sched. A medical expenses. i%26#039;m not sure about voluntary - i%26#039;ll have to check. i do agree with another responder...see if the mother is willing to release the daughter and allow you to claim her maybe once every other year. or you can go to court and ask the judge to include/amend it in the support order.

Entitled to child care tax credit??

No, if you do not have custody you may not claim this credit. The credit is to help defray the costs of allowing both spouses to go to work or to school.