Can you claim child care on taxes if you do not claim the children?

Question

and do you have to claim child care if you are paying your family to watch the kids?

Answer 1

Nope, can't claim the child care on taxes if you're not claiming the children. And you can claim child care if you're paying your family to watch the kids, just as long as it's not your spouse or one of your kids that you're paying. If it's grandma, aunt, cousin, etc, you can claim the child care expenses, but that also means that they have to report the income.

Answer 2

No, you can only claim the child care credit for a child who is your dependent.

You are allowed to claim the child care credit if a relative is watching them, unless the person watching them is your dependent, or is your child under age 19, or is the parent of the child. The person receiving the money is legally required to report it as income and pay taxes on it - the children being relatives doesn't change that. To not report the income is tax evasion.

Answer 3

Yes, you can claim child care credit on your taxes IF your child lived with you and could have been a dependent except that you gave the exemption to the non-custodial parent.

This is a credit. you never have to take a credit, but why would you not? The people you pay should be including this as income on their tax returns whether or not you claim the credit.