Can't Remove Form 2441 on ProSeries 2022

[fkaassociates]

Hi All,

I have a client who has $1600 in box 10 of his W-2 for Dependent Care Benefits, but has no dependents and did not have child care (they mistakenly thought Dependent Care Benefits would apply to his situation of caring for a significant other).

ProSeries is generating form 2441 to fill out, but since I don't actually have any child care on the return at all, what should I do?

[sjrcpa]

Fill it out showing -0- qualifying expenses and having the $1,600 become taxable income.

If the significant other is his disabled spouse, and care was needed so he could work, it does qualify.

[BobKamman]

Doesn't have to be a spouse.  Doesn't even have to be a dependent, if only income more than $4,400 is the disqualifier.  

[rbynaker]

Was he actually reimbursed $1,600?  Or was it contributed to the plan and forfeited?

I wouldn't make any assumptions based solely on the W-2.  Often the year-end paystub will shed some light on things (if reimbursements are included in the paycheck).

[fkaassociates]

To add more details: he signed up for the benefits because he thought he could use them for his 30 year old live-in girlfriend who works, isn't disabled, makes around $40k a year herself and files on her own. Basically, he though the dependent care benefit was something other than what it actually is. Someone told him what it's actually for and he stopped contributing, but it's still hardcoded on his W-2.

So, my problem is that she didn't actually have any dependent care benefits attributable to her and he didn't pay anyone anything for dependent care, so I have a blank 2441 form that's generating a ProSeries error because it's requiring me to fill out the form.

A reply above suggested seeing if the funds were repaid or remitted back to him, which I suppose would indicate forfeiture of the benefit and I can note that on the W-2 input page?

[TaxGuyBill]

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@fkaassociates wrote:

To add more details: he signed up for the benefits because he thought he could use them for his 30 year old live-in girlfriend who works, isn't disabled, makes around $40k a year herself and files on her own. Basically, he though the dependent care benefit was something other than what it actually is. Someone told him what it's actually for and he stopped contributing, but it's still hardcoded on his W-2.

So, my problem is that she didn't actually have any dependent care benefits attributable to her and he didn't pay anyone anything for dependent care, so I have a blank 2441 form that's generating a ProSeries error because it's requiring me to fill out the form.

A reply above suggested seeing if the funds were repaid or remitted back to him, which I suppose would indicate forfeiture of the benefit and I can note that on the W-2 input page?

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You will still need to file the 2441.

As for the errors, just make up a daycare.  As long as there was $0 spent, it doesn't really matter.  You can call it "No Daycare" at "123 Main Street" or whatever you want.

But you first need to find out if he received the funds, or if he forfeited them.

[fkaassociates]

He never actually received the funds. As for the 2441, I can fill it out, fine, but then I get to the Employer ID number error and I don't have a number to put in and I can't move past the error and finalize the return. I can turn off e-filing and paper mail it and avoid the 2441 error altogether, but I'd have to fill in the entire form in order to qualify for e-filing.

[rbynaker]

If the funds were contributed to the plan and then forfeited, IMO you need the 2441 to show the IRS on Line 14 why the W-2 box 10 amount is not taxable.  The required entries seem to be a newly introduced ProSeries bug, but someone else mentioned that you can turn off error checking and the return goes through (at least in their case).

[TaxGuyBill]

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@fkaassociates wrote:

but then I get to the Employer ID number error

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Check the tax-exempt box (or whatever it is called).  Or as Rick suggested, just disable error-checking when you e-file.