Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses tax credit (ON479-A) - How to have both Supporting Person Incomes appear in the calculate the Family Income?

[Nepenthe01100110]

When I answer the "Select Supporting Person's" question, I cannot make the correct selection to the CARE tax credit (ON479-A) to have both my wife's and my income reported correctly, and thus the net family income.  With each combination of check boxes, only the one net income of that person's income is entered in the (ON479-a) form, under the net family income section.  This was verified by looking a our returns in PDF format.

**********************************UPDATE***********************************************

Hi, I've got this one out!

--You need to select multiple options, in response #1--

The proper thing to do (in my case, where both parents earn an income and equally support our children) was choose multiple check boxes under the response to response (1); YOU & YOUR SPOUSE / PARTNER.

After that, I once again generated the PDF copies, to verify that the ON429-A and ON429 were being properly filled out.

In the forms for the lower income earner (who is the claimant eligible for the income, and the person to which the question is being asked in the CARE page of the TurboTax wizard), the family income was now properly entered (Support person 1 + Support person 2) and thus the correct CARE credit was being calculated (ON429-A), base on our family income and our credit (ON429, Line 1) was entered (and for the correct amount).

In the forms of the higher income earner, although the family income in form ON429-a was not correctly entered (only has supporting person 1 listed), there was no credit being applied in ON429-a and the ON429 form did not exist.

After having initially chosen ONE selection (YOU) the first time around, I am now happy to move forward with checking both YOU and YOUR SPOUSE / PARTNER (Response 1) to the question.

Personally, I feel that at the root of this confusion is the statement "Select One" in following statement, prior to the responses:

To calculate the tax credit, select one:

1. Who supported ALL your eligible children? (three sub-selections)

-You

-Your spouse / partner

-Someone else

2. Or, were there different supporting persons for EACH eligible child? (one sub-selection)

-Yes, there were different supporting persons for each eligible child (now breaks out to more questions)

I, like many I'm sure, after choosing (1), only selected one sub-selection, because at the top, it says SELECT ONE.

However, clearly they meant choose ONE RESPONSE for (1) or (2), but that there could be multiple "sub-selections", as checked boxed under those responses.

I think all of this confusion could be solved by re-wording Response 1 to this:

1. Who supported ALL your eligible children (check all that apply)?

-You

-Your spouse / partner

-Someone else

Again, my situation is very straight forward, and seeing that the entries and credits are being applied as I expected in our PDF copies, I'm moving forward with both YOU and YOUR SPOUSE / PARTNER checked.

I hope this explanation helps others....as Tech support (albeit very nice and helpful), were not able to help me after two hours on the phone with how to resolve this specific issue.

[AnnetteW]

This was helpful in terms of understanding the error.  However I cannot drill down from ON479 to get to the form ON479-A.  How do I access form ON479-A  - I have tried to Search but it does not come up?

Please advise??

Thank you.

[Nepenthe01100110]

Hi, you'll need to print (to PDF) the forms and be sure to choose to print the blank one's too.  That said, if you choose not to print the blank one and you don't see the form, that means is not filled out ....

[TurboTaxBrenda1]

1. After entering your Childcare Expenses, (and they are NOT being claimed by the higher income earner), continue
2. When you land on the "Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit", you should have checked off YES to "Did all eligible children have the same supporting person(s)?" and ONE to "Without counting one of you, how many other supporting persons are there for all eligible children?".

The first screenshot below shows "how to check the boxes", the second shows the Provincial Tax Summary with NO CREDITS for a couple who's income exceeds $150k

[BlackflyB]

When I select both YOU and Your spouse/ partner! Then continue my return drops $900 does that make sense?

When I select just YOU, it stays the same

Thanks

B

[alexcatod]

I have the same question, is such a large drop in refund amount (by around $1000) something that is expected if you select 'Your spouse/partner' along with 'You'. We are not even eligible for this tax credit (eligible for family income of under 150K), why is refund amount even adjusted?

[sarahden]

I am having the same issue. When I click both You and my spouse as supposrting parents the amount owing goes up by over $3000. If i just leave it as the you are the supporting parent it stays the same.

[gremel13]

Thank you as trying to fix this was frustrating as hell.  If you use the forms method to do your return there seems to be no way to get this right.  For next year please fix this.  Anyone doing tax returns who is not an expert is likely to miss this and get a refund that needs paying back later

[Kamenickova]

I am unable to drill to ON479-A. 

[Lyndseycast]

Same problem for me, if I identify another supporting person if drops my return. We are not even eligible as our income is over $200 000, so can I leave it as just me s the supporting person or must I include my spouse?