Federal benefit · Tax credit · Last verified 2026-08-08
Child and Dependent Care Credit
A tax credit worth up to $1,050 per kid for daycare costs — stacks with everything except the same FSA dollars.
- What it's worth
- Up to $1,050 per kid/yr
- Deadline
- No fixed deadline
- Who qualifies
- Care must enable you (and a spouse, if filing jointly) to work or look for work.
The details
The Child and Dependent Care Credit gives back 20–35% of up to $3,000 in care expenses per kid ($6,000 for two or more) while you work. That's up to $1,050 for one kid. You can't double-dip the same dollars you ran through a Dependent Care FSA, but expenses above the FSA cap still count. Claim it on your return for any year with paid care.
Official source: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc602
Anchor tracks all of these for your kid's birth year and your state — free. Provide matches every benefit here to your kid's age, shows the real deadline, and links only to official pages. No ads, no subscription, no locked features.
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