Child Care Credit

We estimate your child care credit by finding the smaller of these amounts:

• Your earned income (wages combined with self-employment income or loss).

• If you are filing a joint return, your spouse's earned income.

• $3,000 times the number (up to two) of your children under age 13 or disabled, minus any excludable dependent care benefits.

Then, we multiply that number by a percentage set by the Internal Revenue Code. The result is your credit. The maximum credit is $2,100 (0.35 times $6,000).

We set your credit to -0- if you are married filing a separate return. It is possible to claim the credit in that case, but for purposes of this calculator we assume that you don't qualify for the credit.