Who can claim Childcare Expenses?

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BlueJay

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I will admit, I am very confused.

My ex and I have joint custody of our two children (both under 16). I have them a bit more than 80% of the time and he has them the other 20% (roughly).

We both pay for childcare expenses. He pays about 25% of the childcare.

I just found out today that he can not claim childcare when he fills out his taxes because I have to claim it all. I earn the lower income so my accountant told me that I have to claim it all.

I don't understand. He pays a share of it, why can't he claim his share?

Is my accountant correct? If so, what is my ex to do? Do I just give him some money when I get my tax rebate back? If so, how do you calculate that?

Sorry for all the questions but I feel really bad for my ex. I don't want to scr*w him out of any money. Our relationship is very amicable and I don't want something like this to change it.

Thanks.
 
Because you don't have shared parenting, and you are the custodial parent, you are the only one entitled to claim things in relation to the child.

So expenses like daycare or fitness tax credit, only the CP is able to claim. There are two ways of dealing with this:

1. the amount the CP receives back in income tax due to the tax credit/write-off (ie. $500 for activities) is deducted from the cost of the activity, then the remaining amount is split proportionally to income of both parent.

Example (using fictional numbers) - daycare costs $500 per month, for $6k per year. You write-off the $6k and receive a tax break of $2000, meaning the ACTUAL cost of Daycare was $4k, which you would split 75/25.

or,

2. you can work out what it any amounts you would have to give him in connection with his contribution come tax time. It ends up that pretty much have to do your taxes 2x. Once with the all tax credits and once without. You then subtract one from the other. Then you divide that number by 25% and you owe him that amount of your tax refund.

example (same idea as above) - Daycare $500 per month, $6k per year. You get $2k back in tax refund due to this expense. You divide $2k by .25 = $500 you give him from your tax refund.
 
Even in the case of a couple who are still together, it's always the lower income of the pair who claims the daycare expenses.
 
The rule requiring the lower income to claim the child care is not relevant when you are separated or divorced. It is only relevant when you are married or common-law.
 
I meant that this rule was probably what the accountant was basing the advice on.
 
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