Trudy is Jocelyn's friend. Trudy looks after Jocelyn's four-year-old son during the day so Jocelyn can go to work. During the year, Jocelyn paid Trudy $4,000 to care for her son. What is the amount of Jocelyn's child and dependent care credit if her AGI for the year was $30,000?

The correct answer to the following question is $810.

Explanation:

For calculating the child and dependent care credit, we will first take out qualified dependent care expenses and then the percentage of qualified dependent care expenses.

So firstly, qualified dependent care expenses would be least of the three following given amount -

1) AGI of Jocelyn - $30,000

2) Amount paid to Trudy - $4000

3) $3000 available in case of one child.

So here $3000 would be the qualified dependent care expenses

Now the percentage of qualified dependent care expenses would be -

Maximum percentage available - 35%, but this is available to a person who has AGI of less than $15,000.

But Jocelyn has $30,000 of AGI, then 1% would decrease by every $2000,

so reduction in percentage = $30,000 - $15,000 / $2000 x 100

= 7.5% if rounded up to 8%, then percentage of qualified dependent care expenses would be 35% - 8% = 27%

Now child and dependent care credit = $3000 x 27%

=$810

=