Claiming the Credit
To claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses, you
need to fill out Parts I and II of IRS Form 2441, Child and Dependent
Care Expenses, if you're filing either IRS Form 1040 or Form 1040A.
This form requires you to provide identification information
for both the care provider(s) and the qualifying children or disabled
persons. The form helps you to compute your credit by comparing your
allowable expenses with your wages and other earnings (and those of
your spouse, if married). Your credit amount as shown on Line 11
of the 2441 is carried to Line 48 of your Form 1040, where it will
be directly subtracted from the taxes you owe. The credit amount is
carried to Line 29 of Form 1040A.
If you are using Form 2441
to claim a credit for expenses you incurred in 2013, but did not pay
until 2014, you can increase the amount of credit you can claim, but
you will have to attach a statement to your tax return explaining
how you computed the credit, as well as the name, I.D. number, and
address of the care provider for the 2013 expenses. Get IRS Publication
503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, for more details.
You can obtain any IRS Publication for free by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM;
publications are also posted on the IRS website.
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