One thing nobody mentioned yet - make sure your daycare gives you a statement with their tax ID number (EIN or SSN) at the end of the year. You need this regardless of whether you're claiming the credit or using FSA funds. If they refuse or seem sketchy about providing it, that's a huge red flag!

Just wanted to add another perspective here - I'm a tax preparer and see this confusion all the time! For your 2023 situation, you're correct that you can't claim the Child Care Tax Credit for the $495 that was reimbursed through your DCFSA. Your tax software is probably asking for the provider info because it needs to verify that you used qualified expenses, even if you're not getting an additional credit. You should enter the provider information but indicate that the expenses were reimbursed. Regarding your daycare's offer for 2024 - this is definitely unusual and potentially problematic. Legitimate daycare providers should charge the same rate regardless of your tax choices. They have no way to know if you claim the credit, and it doesn't affect their tax liability. I'd be cautious about any provider trying to tie their pricing to your tax decisions. For your planning, with expected costs of $9-10K and a $5K DCFSA contribution, you'd potentially be able to claim the Child Care Credit on expenses above the $5K that wasn't covered by your FSA. Just remember the credit has income limits and phases out at higher income levels. Make sure to keep all your receipts and get the provider's tax ID regardless of which benefits you use!

Late to the party but just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to this thread! I've been filing my taxes wrong for the past 2 years because my tax guy didn't understand how DCFSA and the Child Care Credit interact. We have twins and spend about $14k on childcare annually. We max out our DCFSA at $5k, but I had no idea we could claim the additional expenses (up to $6k total for two kids) for the Care Credit. Just amended my 2023 return and will be getting back over $1,200! This is why I love reddit - learn something new every day that actually saves real money. Checking out that taxr.ai thing too, sounds like it might be useful for some other questions I have.

Great question Andre! You're mostly right but there's actually a bit more nuance here that could benefit you. With one child, the Child and Dependent Care Credit allows up to $3,000 in qualifying expenses, while your DCFSA maxes out at $5,000. Since you contributed the full $5,000 to your DCFSA, you've actually exceeded the $3,000 credit limit already. However, here's where it gets interesting - if your total childcare expenses were $7,800 and you used $5,000 through DCFSA, you have $2,800 in remaining expenses. Since this is under the $3,000 limit for one child, you could potentially claim a credit on that $2,800! The credit percentage ranges from 20-35% based on your AGI, so even at the minimum rate you'd be looking at a $560 credit ($2,800 × 20%). Not a huge amount but definitely worth claiming if you qualify income-wise. Just make sure when you're entering this into TurboTax that you're not double-counting the expenses you already got the tax benefit from through your DCFSA. The software should guide you through this, but it's good to understand the mechanics behind it!

Make sure you also understand the exact terms of what happens if the company goes under or gets acquired during your service period! I had a "forgivable loan" for my MBA that turned into a NIGHTMARE when my company was acquired and the new parent company didn't honor the original forgiveness terms. I ended up with both a huge tax bill AND had to repay part of the loan.

Another important consideration is to get clarity on how the company handles tax withholdings during the forgiveness period. Some employers will "gross up" the forgiven amount to cover your tax liability (essentially giving you extra money to pay the taxes), while others leave you responsible for the full tax bill on your regular salary. For example, if $36k of your loan is forgiven in year one of employment, that's $36k of additional taxable income. Depending on your tax bracket, you might owe $8k-12k in taxes on that forgiven amount, but your regular paycheck won't have had those taxes withheld. This can create a nasty surprise at tax time or require you to make quarterly estimated payments. I'd strongly recommend asking your employer about their tax withholding policy for loan forgiveness before you sign. If they don't gross up or handle withholdings, make sure you're setting aside money throughout the year to cover the tax liability.

I went through this exact same thing with Missouri last year! After weeks of "processing" status and no luck getting through on the phone, I discovered that Missouri DOR sometimes has issues with their automated systems not updating properly. What finally worked for me was filing a formal inquiry through their website - there's a "Contact Us" form specifically for refund issues that goes to a different department than the phone lines. I got a response within 3 business days explaining that my return had been flagged for a routine audit review (nothing wrong, just random selection) and they expedited it once I responded to their inquiry. Also, if you have direct deposit set up, double-check that your bank account info was entered correctly - a surprising number of delays are due to rejected deposits that bounce back to the state. Hope this helps and you get your refund soon!

I'm dealing with the exact same frustration with Missouri! Filed in late January, got my federal refund quickly, but Missouri is still showing "processing" with no timeline. It's ridiculous that we have to become detectives just to figure out what's happening with our own money. I've been checking the status online daily and it never changes. Reading through all these comments, it sounds like Missouri DOR is just chronically understaffed and slow. Going to try calling that 573-751-3505 number first thing tomorrow morning, and if that doesn't work I'll try the email route someone mentioned. It's frustrating that some people are having to pay for third-party services just to get basic information about their refunds. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - at least I know I'm not alone in this mess!

Has anyone used Sprintax for filing their Non-Resident Alien tax return? My university gives us free access to it, but I'm not sure if it handles these tax treaty situations correctly, especially if there were withholding mistakes during the year.

I went through this exact same situation last year as an F1 student from Canada! The key thing that helped me was understanding that even though you filled out the W-8BEN, your university's payroll system might not be properly configured to apply the tax treaty exemption automatically. Here's what worked for me: I had to go to the payroll office with a printed copy of the specific tax treaty article (Article 20 for Canada, but yours will be different for Malaysia) and explicitly request that they update my withholding status. Sometimes they need to manually override their system to stop the automatic withholding. Also, keep detailed records of everything - all your pay stubs, the W-8BEN you submitted, and any correspondence with the payroll office. If they can't fix it immediately, you'll definitely be able to get a full refund when you file your tax return next year. The IRS is actually pretty good about honoring tax treaty exemptions for F1 students once you have all the proper documentation. Don't give up - this is a really common issue that gets resolved once the right people understand your situation!