My wife has the lower EARNED income, but TurboTax is assigning childcare expenses to my return because I have lower NET income. How can this be corrected?

[jay-stevens]

My understanding is that the spouse with the lower earned income should be deducting childcare expenses, but her net income is higher due to dividend income and I can't get the deduction moved to her return. Thanks for any help.

[Kyle_12]

Generally, the spouse/common-law partner with the lower net income (including zero income) must claim the child care expenses. The higher-income partner can claim this amount if the lower-income partner is enrolled in school, sick, confined in prison, incapable of caring for the child due to infirmity or disability. You will need the receipt from your child care provider to be able to claim this amount.

For more information about child care expenses, please use the CRA link below:

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-re...

[jay-stevens]

Thanks for the reply. I realize that generally the spouse with the lower net income must claim the child care expenses. But the income also has to be earned; her employment income is lower than mine and therefore the childcare expenses need to be claimed on her return. However, in TurboTax, my net income is lower than hers as she is paid mainly with dividends and has a higher net income than mine. As a result, TurboTax has incorrectly applied the childcare expenses to my return and I can't find a way to correct this. None of the exceptions apply to our situation as far as being enrolled in school, sick, etc.