Confused with Schedule C — Form 8829 showing "Daycare Wks should be blank" error in TurboTax

This is actually a common confusion with Form 8829 (Business Use of Home). The "Daycare Wks" field refers to the number of weeks you used your home for daycare business purposes. If you're not running a daycare business, then yes, this field should remain blank. Line A on Form 8829 asks for the total square footage of your home, while Line B asks for the square footage used exclusively for business. The software is correctly prompting you to complete Line A (square footage) while keeping the Daycare Wks field blank if you're not operating a daycare. The reason you didn't have this issue last year might be that TurboTax has updated their error checking to be more thorough, or you might have inadvertently entered something in the Daycare Wks field this year.

I had this same issue and found that taxr.ai was super helpful for figuring it out. I was totally confused about all these business deduction forms since this is my first year with a home office. I uploaded my draft return to https://taxr.ai and it actually spotted that I had accidentally put a number in the daycare weeks field even though I don't run a daycare. Their analysis showed me exactly what to fix and explained why the Daycare Wks field should be blank for regular home offices. It also caught a couple other issues with my Schedule C that would have caused problems. Saved me from having to call TurboTax support which is always a nightmare during filing season.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for my home office deduction issues. It was actually really helpful! I uploaded my draft return and it immediately identified that I had the same problem - I had somehow put "52" in the Daycare Weeks field even though I don't run a daycare. The analysis explained that Form 8829 has special rules for daycare providers vs. regular home offices. Since I just have a regular home office, that field should be blank, and my square footage should only go on Lines A and B. It also caught that I was using the simplified method and regular method at the same time, which apparently isn't allowed! Fixed everything in about 10 minutes and my H&R Block software stopped showing the errors. Definitely worth it if you're stuck on these home business forms.

After spending HOURS trying to get through to TurboTax support about this exact Form 8829 daycare weeks issue, I finally tried Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get direct help from the IRS. They have this service where they actually call the IRS for you and get you connected to a real person without the wait. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that the Daycare Wks field should only be filled out if you're operating a licensed daycare facility from your home. For regular home offices, it should be left blank even if you worked from home all 52 weeks of the year. The agent also explained that Line A is for total square footage of your home, and Line B is for the business portion. Claimyr saved me literally hours of hold time - the IRS wait when I tried calling myself was over 2 hours!

I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself because I needed answers about some Schedule C deductions and Form 8829 issues that were similar to the original poster's problem. It actually worked exactly as advertised. I signed up, they called the IRS, and then called me back when they had an IRS agent on the line. The whole process took about 35 minutes instead of the 2+ hours I spent on my previous attempt where I eventually gave up. The IRS agent cleared up my confusion about the Daycare Wks field and confirmed it should be blank for my home office. She also explained how to properly fill out Lines A and B for square footage. Honestly, I was shocked at how painless the process was compared to my previous IRS calling nightmares.

For what it's worth, this is my 3rd year using TurboTax for my home business and I've noticed they've made the Form 8829 more confusing each year. Last year there was a similar issue with the Daycare fields showing up even for non-daycare businesses. The key is to make sure you've correctly indicated you're NOT running a daycare business somewhere earlier in the questions. There's usually a specific question about "type of home business" and if that's not set correctly, it can cause these confusing prompts later.

I had the same Schedule C / Form 8829 issue!! Turns out I was mixing up the simplified home office deduction with the regular Form 8829 method. You can't do both! If you're using the simplified method ($5 per square foot, max 300 sq ft), you don't need to fill out Form 8829 at all. If you're using Form 8829, then you're using the regular method which requires all the details about utilities, mortgage interest, etc. Check if you somehow activated both methods in TurboTax. That was my problem and it created similar error messages about the Daycare Wks field.

I'm dealing with this exact same frustrating issue! Just wanted to add another potential cause - I discovered that if you imported data from last year's return and your business circumstances changed (like if you switched from having employees to being solo, or changed your business type), TurboTax might carry over old settings that trigger the daycare fields. What worked for me was going to the Business Profile section and completely clearing out all the imported business information, then re-entering it fresh. Sometimes the import process brings over conflicting data that causes these weird form validation errors. Also, double-check that your business code (NAICS code) is correct for your actual business type. I had accidentally kept a childcare-related code from when I was helping a friend with their taxes last year, and that was making TurboTax think I needed daycare-specific fields on Form 8829. The Daycare Wks field should definitely be blank for regular home offices - it's only for licensed daycare providers who need to calculate time-space percentages differently than other home businesses.

I've been following this thread because I had the exact same "Daycare Wks should be blank" error last week! After trying several of the suggestions here, I found that my issue was actually in the TurboTax interview process - I had answered "Yes" to a question about whether I provided services to children in my home business, thinking it was asking about my online tutoring business. That single answer triggered TurboTax to classify my business as childcare-related, which automatically enabled all the daycare-specific fields on Form 8829. Once I went back and corrected that answer to reflect that I don't provide in-person childcare services, the Daycare Wks field disappeared entirely and I could complete the form normally. For anyone still stuck on this: try searching for "child" or "daycare" in your business interview answers and make sure you haven't accidentally indicated you provide childcare services. Sometimes the questions are worded in a way that makes it easy to give the wrong answer if you work with kids in any capacity (tutoring, coaching, etc.) but don't actually run a daycare from your home.