Prior to the American Rescue Plan, parents could only claim 35% of a maximum of $6,000 in child care expenses for two children, or a maximum tax credit of $2,100. In other words, families with two kids who spent at least $16,000 on day care in 2021 can get $8,000 back from the IRS through the expanded tax credit. The expanded tax break lets families claim a credit worth 50% of their child care expenses, which can be up to $16,000 for two or more kids. The most parents can receive from the tax credit is $8,000, which applies to families with two or more children. That means tax credits like the Child and Dependent Care Credit are more valuable for taxpayers than deductions - and become even more so when they are fully refundable. Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions in a person's tax liability, versus deductions that lower a person's overall taxable income. The fact that the tax credit is also fully refundable is important because it could boost the tax refund that many parents receive this year, experts say. The cost of paying for child care is pushing some parents out of the workforce, with a survey finding 1 in 5 parents between the ages of 25 to 31 left their jobs to take on child care duties. The average weekly rate for a child care center in 2020 was $340, which adds up to almost $1,400 each month, according to. "It's a huge opportunity for taxpayers, and it shouldn't be missed out on." "They are recognizing the increasing cost of child care in our country," said Robbin Caruso, co-lead of Prager Metis' National Tax Controversy Practice. But the credit hadn't kept up with the pace of child care costs, with the child advocacy group First Five Years Fund noting in 2018 that it only covered about 10% of the typical annual cost of care for two children in the U.S. The Child and Dependent Care Credit isn't new - it's been around since the 1970s, and was designed to help working parents offset the cost of daycare, after school programs and summer camps. The latter is important because if the tax credit exceeds what you owe the IRS, you'll get the difference in your tax refund. The Child and Dependent Care Credit was supercharged through the 2021 American Rescue Plan, with the pandemic aid bill boosting how much parents can claim on their tax returns for child care expenses as well as making it fully refundable. But there's another tax benefit geared to parents that may be less well known than the CTC but that can be far more generous, providing up to $8,000 in tax credits this year. families with children are familiar with the federal Child Tax Credit, given that parents of more than 60 million kids received enhanced payments in 2021.
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