Taxpayer identification number needed for each qualifying person. You must include on line 2 of Form 2441 the name and taxpayer identification number (generally the social security number) of each qualifying person. See Taxpayer identification number under Qualifying Person Test, later.
You may have to pay employment taxes. If you pay someone to come to your home and care for your dependent or spouse, you may be a household employer who has to pay employment taxes. Usually, you are not a household employer if the person who cares for your dependent or spouse does so at his or her home or place of business. See Employment Taxes for Household Employers, later.
This chapter discusses the credit for child and dependent care expenses and covers the following topics.
Tests you must meet to claim the credit.
How to figure the credit.
How to claim the credit.
Employment taxes you may have to pay as a household employer.
You may be able to claim the credit if you pay someone to care for your dependent who is under age 13 or for your spouse or dependent who is not able to care for himself or herself. The credit can be up to 35% of your expenses. To qualify, you must pay these expenses so you can work or look for work.
Dependent care benefits. If you received any dependent care benefits from your employer during the year, you may be able to exclude from your income all or part of them. You must complete Form 2441, Part III, before you can figure the amount of your credit. See Dependent Care Benefits under How To Figure the Credit, later.
To be able to claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses, you must file Form 1040, Form 1040A, or Form 1040NR, not Form 1040EZ or Form 1040NR-EZ, and meet all the following tests.
The care must be for one or more qualifying persons who are identified on Form 2441. (See Qualifying Person Test.)
You must pay child and dependent care expenses so you (and your spouse if filing jointly) can work or look for work. (See Work-Related Expense Test, later.)
You must make payments for child and dependent care to someone you (and your spouse) cannot claim as a dependent. If you make payments to your child, he or she cannot be your dependent and must be age 19 or older by the end of the year. You cannot make payments to:
Your spouse, or
The parent of your qualifying person if your qualifying person is your child and under age 13.
Your filing status may be single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child. If you are married, you must file a joint return, unless an exception applies to you. (See Joint Return Test, later.)
If you exclude or deduct dependent care benefits provided by a dependent care benefits plan, the total amount you exclude or deduct must be less than the dollar limit for qualifying expenses (generally, $3,000 if one qualifying person was cared for or $6,000 if two or more qualifying persons were cared for). (If two or more qualifying persons were cared for, the amount you exclude or deduct will always be less than the dollar limit, since the total amount you can exclude or deduct is limited to $5,000. See Reduced Dollar Limit under How To Figure the Credit, later.)
These tests are presented in Figure 33-A and are also explained in detail in this chapter.
1 This also applies to your spouse, unless your spouse was disabled or a full-time student.
2 If you had expenses that met the requirements for 2013, except that you did not pay them until 2014, you may be able to claim those expenses in 2014.
See Expenses not paid until the following year under How To Figure the Credit.
Your child and dependent care expenses must be for the care of one or more qualifying persons.
A qualifying person is:
Your qualifying child who is your dependent and who was under age 13 when the care was provided (but see Child of divorced or separated parents or parents living apart, later),
Your spouse who was not physically or mentally able to care for himself or herself and lived with you for more than half the year, or
A person who was not physically or mentally able to care for himself or herself, lived with you for more than half the year, and either:
Was your dependent, or
Would have been your dependent except that:
He or she received gross income of $3,900 or more,
He or she filed a joint return, or
You, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s 2014 return.
Dependent defined. A dependent is a person, other than you or your spouse, for whom you can claim an exemption. To be your dependent, a person must be your qualifying child (or your qualifying relative).
Qualifying child. To be your qualifying child, a child must live with you for more than half the year and meet other requirements.
More information. For more information about who is a dependent or a qualifying child, see chapter 3.
Physically or mentally not able to care for oneself. Persons who cannot dress, clean, or feed themselves because of physical or mental problems are considered not able to care for themselves. Also, persons who must have constant attention to prevent them from injuring themselves or others are considered not able to care for themselves.
Person qualifying for part of year. You determine a person’s qualifying status each day.
For example, if the person for whom you pay child and dependent care expenses no longer qualifies on September 16, count only those expenses through September 15. Also see Yearly limit under Dollar Limit, later.
Birth or death of otherwise qualifying person. In determining whether a person is a qualifying person, a person who was born or died in 2014 is treated as having lived with you for more than half of 2014 if your home was the person’s home for more than half the time he or she was alive in 2014.
Taxpayer identification number. You must include on your return the name and taxpayer identification number (generally the social security number) of the qualifying person(s). If the correct information is not shown, the credit may be reduced or disallowed.
Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) for aliens. If your qualifying person is a nonresident or resident alien who does not have and cannot get a social security number (SSN), use that person’s ITIN. The ITIN is entered wherever an SSN is requested on a tax return. To apply for an ITIN, see Form W-7.
An ITIN is for tax use only. It does not entitle the holder to social security benefits or change the holder’s employment or immigration status under U.S. law.
Adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN). If your qualifying person is a child who was placed in your home for adoption and for whom you do not have an SSN, you must get an ATIN for the child. File Form W-7A, Application for Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending U.S. Adoptions.
Child of divorced or separated parents or parents living apart. Even if you cannot claim your child as a dependent, he or she is treated as your qualifying person if:
The child was under age 13 or was not physically or mentally able to care for himself or herself,
The child received over half of his or her support during the calendar year from one or both parents who are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance, are separated under a written separation agreement, or lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the calendar year,
The child was in the custody of one or both parents for more than half the year, and
You were the child’s custodial parent.
The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights in 2014. If the child was with each parent for an equal number of nights, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher adjusted gross income. For details and an exception for a parent who works at night, see Pub. 501.
The noncustodial parent cannot treat the child as a qualifying person even if that parent is entitled to claim the child as a dependent under the special rules for a child of divorced or separated parents.
To claim the credit, you (and your spouse if filing jointly) must have earned income during the year.
Earned income. Earned income includes wages, salaries, tips, other taxable employee compensation, and net earnings from self-employment. A net loss from self-employment reduces earned income. Earned income also includes strike benefits and any disability pay you report as wages.
Generally, only taxable compensation is included. However, you can elect to include nontaxable combat pay in earned income. If you are filing a joint return and both you and your spouse received nontaxable combat pay, you can each make your own election. (In other words, if one of you makes the election, the other one can also make it but does not have to.) You should figure your credit both ways and make the election if it gives you a greater tax benefit.
Members of certain religious faiths opposed to social security. Certain income earned by persons who are members of certain religious faiths that are opposed to participation in Social Security Act programs and have an IRS-approved form that exempts certain income from social security and Medicare taxes may not be considered earned income for this purpose. See Earned Income Test in Publication 503.
Not earned income. Earned income does not include:
Pensions and annuities,
Social security and railroad retirement benefits,
Workers’ compensation,
Interest and dividends,
Unemployment compensation,
Scholarship or fellowship grants, except for those reported on a Form W-2 and paid to you for teaching or other services,
Nontaxable workfare payments,
Child support payments received by you,
Income of nonresident aliens that is not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, or
Any amount received for work while an inmate in a penal institution.
Rule for student-spouse or spouse not able to care for self. Your spouse is treated as having earned income for any month that he or she is:
A full-time student, or
Physically or mentally not able to care for himself or herself. (Your spouse also must live with you for more than half the year.)
If you are filing a joint return, this rule also applies to you. You can be treated as having earned income for any month you are a full-time student or not able to care for yourself.
Figure the earned income of the nonworking spouse described under (1) or (2) above as explained under Earned Income Limit, later.
This rule applies to only one spouse for any one month. If, in the same month, both you and your spouse do not work and are either full-time students or not physically or mentally able to care for yourselves, only one of you can be treated as having earned income in that month.
Full-time student. You are a full-time student if you are enrolled at a school for the number of hours or classes that the school considers full time. You must have been a full-time student for some part of each of 5 calendar months during the year. (The months need not be consecutive.)
School. The term “school” includes high schools, colleges, universities, and technical, trade, and mechanical schools. A school does not include an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or school offering courses only through the Internet.
Child and dependent care expenses must be work-related to qualify for the credit. Expenses are considered work-related only if both of the following are true.
They allow you (and your spouse if filing jointly) to work or look for work.
To be work-related, your expenses must allow you to work or look for work. If you are married, generally both you and your spouse must work or look for work. One spouse is treated as working during any month he or she is a full-time student or is not physically or mentally able to care for himself or herself.
Your work can be for others or in your own business or partnership. It can be either full time or part time.
Work also includes actively looking for work. However, if you do not find a job and have no earned income for the year, you cannot take this credit. See Earned Income Test, earlier.
An expense is not considered work-related merely because you had it while you were working. The purpose of the expense must be to allow you to work. Whether your expenses allow you to work or look for work depends on the facts.
Example 1. The cost of a babysitter while you and your spouse go out to eat is not normally a work-related expense.
Example 2. You work during the day. Your spouse works at night and sleeps during the day. You pay for care of your 5-year-old child during the hours when you are working and your spouse is sleeping. Your expenses are considered work-related.
Volunteer work. For this purpose, you are not considered to be working if you do unpaid volunteer work or volunteer work for a nominal salary.
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501 Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
503 Child and Dependent Care Expenses
926 Household Employer’s Tax Guide 
2441 Child and Dependent Care Expenses
Schedule H (Form 1040) Household Employment Taxes
W-7 Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
W-10 Dependent Care Provider’s Identification and Certification 