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kenneth-nunez-l
kenneth-nunez-l
Level 1
posted
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM
last updated ‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

Childcare expenses are claimed by the parent with the lower income and must have been paid in order to allow the parent to work or go to school. When parents are separated, however, the parent living with the child can claim this amount regardless of their income. If the child lived with both parents at different times in the year, as in the case of a joint custody, both parents can claim childcare expenses for the period when the child lived with them. Turbo Tax interface do not cover well Child Care for Joint Custody. Always ask for Higher income Spose or common in law regardless if you already configured as Divorced

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TurboTaxKim
TurboTaxKim
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

When parents are separated and share custody, they can each claim the part of the child care costs that they paid.You must enter your dependants on your own tax return, but take care not to claim any credits or deductions the other parent may be claiming or entitled to.

As long as you are not filing your tax return with another spouse/commonlaw partner on December 31st, you just enter the amount of Childcare Expenses you actually paid while the child was in your care. The higher/lower net income rule will not apply to you.

More information is found in this CRA publication (Sections 1:33 -1:36): https://bit.ly/2uAIYyo

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6 Replies
TurboTaxKim
TurboTaxKim
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

When parents are separated and share custody, they can each claim the part of the child care costs that they paid.You must enter your dependants on your own tax return, but take care not to claim any credits or deductions the other parent may be claiming or entitled to.

As long as you are not filing your tax return with another spouse/commonlaw partner on December 31st, you just enter the amount of Childcare Expenses you actually paid while the child was in your care. The higher/lower net income rule will not apply to you.

More information is found in this CRA publication (Sections 1:33 -1:36): https://bit.ly/2uAIYyo

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kenneth-nunez-l
kenneth-nunez-l
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

Thanks Kim. The issue is that Turbo Tax interface do not make this scenario intuitive  as even when the tool knows that you are separated/divorced, turbo tax keeps asking the user if your spouse (that you have none) has higher/lower income to be able to claim Child Care Expenses that makes it confusing to the user when each parent is allowed to claim their part in Joint scenarios 🙂
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TurboTaxKim
TurboTaxKim
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

Thanks for the feedback on this. I've taken note and will pass it on to our developers.
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c-vandesype
c-vandesype
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

I have also tried to claim my child care expense (I too am divorced).  Despite following all the directions, (I agree with PP that it is NOT intuitive) they fail to appear and my deduction is still zero.  
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TurboTaxKim
TurboTaxKim
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

@c.vandesype When you enter your dependant information, you must say "yes" to the question "Did this dependant live with you". You are only allowed to claim the childcare expenses that were incurred for the time the child "lived" with you. Please let us know if you are claiming the expenses this way and if it works or not.
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c-vandesype
c-vandesype
Level 1
‎October 31, 2019 1:24 AM

Turbo Tax do not allow Divorced Parents with Joint Custody to Claim Child Care correcly

Still nothing.  Is there some way to refresh?  Should I start over with a blank return?
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