Taxes and Child Care

In

 order to claim your child and dependent care expenses on your taxes you need to have the appropriate information from each person or organization that provides care for your child. This includes their name, address and tax identification number (TIN). This could be their social security number or federal ID #.

Use Form W-10 Dependent Care Provider Identification and Certification to claim your child care expenses on your tax return.

Best Practice: Ask your provider when you first start care to complete Form W-10. Also, have an open conversation and agreement about claiming your child care expenses on your taxes.

  

What your provider should know: There is a penalty for failure to furnish TIN. TINs are needed to carry out the Internal Revenue laws of the United States Section 6109(a) which requires a provider of dependent care services to give to parents/guardians a valid TIN, even if the provider isn't required to file a return. The IRS uses the TIN to identify the provider and verify the accuracy of the provider's return as well as yours. A care provider who doesn't give you his or her correct TIN is subject to a penalty for each failure unless the failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. This penalty doesn't apply to an organization described in section 501(c)(3).

What if my provider will not give me their TIN for my taxes?

You need to be able to show the IRS that you used due diligence in trying to get the required information. You can show due diligence by getting and keeping in your records any one of the following: 

If your care provider doesn't comply with your request for one of these items, you must still report certain information on your Form 2441. For details, see the Form 2441 instructions.