Question: What is Child Care Credit / Dependent Care Credit for 2017?

Answer: For 2017, the value used to determine the amount of credit that may be refundable is $3,000.  The Child Care Credit amount has not been changed for many years.  The $3,000 is the value of the expenses (child care expenses) used to determine the Child Care Credit and not the actual amount of Child Care Credit.  In layman’s terms, you can only use the first $3,000 of child care expenses for each child (nursery school, preschool, etc) even if you spend $10,000 or $15,000 for the calculation of the Child Care Credit.  The maximum amount of Child Care Credit is $600 per child.  

Please note there are two similar and confusing names for Child Credit: Child Care Credit (also called Dependent Care Credit) and Child Tax Credit.  They are different and you can qualify for both credits if you meet the requirement.