Kansas Child Support Forum
General Kansas Child Support Discussions => Kansas Child Support Guidelines => Topic started by: Crewchief219 on October 20, 2017, 11:37:41 AM
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I'm trying to fill out a child support worksheet and I'm stumped on what to put in block D-5, work-related child care costs formula Amt. - (Amt. × %) for each child care credit. What does this mean? My ex and I have agreed to split daycare expenses 50/50 but is that not possible? This part of the form is confusing...
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The first thing you probably want to do is use software. efamilytools.com has a great calculator and it's free.
Line D.5 is each parents cash payment toward child care. So far so good. Now, as some are aware, there is the federal child care tax credit that actually refunds a portion of expenses for child care. The amount refunded as a tax credit is based on the taxable income (not the gross income) of the parent and the residency of the child. Only the parent who has residency of the child receives the child care tax credit regardless of who pays for it. So your ex may receive the credit, but you will not when you do your taxes.
The tax credit has the effect of reducing the payment for child care entered on line D.5. The reduced payment means that parent's child support obligation actually increases slightly.
In your case, depending on income, it might work best for your ex to pay for all of the child care which would increase your child support payment to her slightly. However, the child care tax credit would be maximized and both of you would then benefit.
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Thank you kindly for your reply Guru! I have shared custody 50/50 with my kids. In that case, which parent should pay for child care? Can both parents then claim the child care tax credit?
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That's a great question! As far as I'm aware, either parent would then be able to claim the child care tax credit. However, I might point out that the credit is based on taxable income. As income increases, the credit decreases to a minimum value. Therefore, I might suggest the lower income parent pay for child care.