Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses

To claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses, you need to fill out Parts I and II of IRS Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, if you're filing IRS Form 1040.

This form requires you to provide identification information for both the care provider(s) and the qualifying children or disabled persons. The form helps you to compute your credit by comparing your allowable expenses with your wages and other earnings (and those of your spouse, if married). Your credit amount as shown on Line 11 of the 2441 is carried to Line 48 of your Form 1040, where it will be directly subtracted from the taxes you owe.

Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses

The file is in Adobe portable document format (PDF), which requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

To get a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader software, go to the Adobe web site.

For more information, see our discussion of claiming the credit for child and dependent care expenses.