Parenting: Enjoyable, memorable and, it seems, expensive.
Child care costs an average $300 a week, or $15,000 a year nationally, said Mac Claxton, a certified public accountant with the Maryland Society of Accountants, a nonprofit organization based in Westminster.
To assist working parents with child care costs, the Internal Revenue Service offers the Child and Dependent Care Credit. The credit, though, only helps so much, Claxton said.
“Child care is pretty expensive,” Claxton said. “The tax credit is a drop in the bucket when you consider the annual cost.”
Parents who paid for child care so they could work or look for work are eligible.
The maximum cost a parent can use for the deduction is $3,000 for one child under 13, or $6,000 for more.
The credit, however, pays from 20 percent to 35 percent of those maximums, depending on the taxpayers? adjusted income. Taxpayers with adjusted incomes greater than $43,000 are eligible for a 20 percent credit, and those with adjusted incomes less than $15,000 are eligible for 35 percent.
Those numbers mean a family in the “lowest” bracket would receive a 35 percent credit ? $1,050 for one child or $2,100 for two or more children.
“The IRS really needs to increase that number,” Claxton said. “You think about it, a teenage mother with a minimum-wage job will struggle to pay for child care.”
More Maryland parents will deal with child care issues. About 75 percent of children under age 12 ? more than 650,000 children ? might require child care while their mothers are at work by 2011, according to the Maryland Committee for Children.
The U.S. Department of Health recommends parents shouldn?t spend more than 10 percent of their family income on child care, the committee reported.
In Maryland, there are many child care options for parents, and the costs don?t seem to be “overwhelming,” said Becki Linn, executive director of the Maryland State Child Care Association.
Subsidy facts
» The Maryland State Department of Education offers the Purchase of Child Care Subsidy Program, which provides assistance for child care costs to eligible working families.
Source: Maryland State Department of Education
