Updated October 21, 2026. Quick answer: Worksheet A in the 2025 Form 2441 instructions figures the extra credit for care you received in 2024 but paid for in 2025, when your 2024 credit did not use the full expense limit. It compares the unused 2024 limit with the amount paid in 2025, applies a decimal from a table, and line 13 goes on Form 2441 line 9b.
What this worksheet is for
The instructions for line 9b say when it applies: “If you had qualified expenses for 2024 that you didn’t pay until 2025 and you didn’t claim a credit on the maximum amount of qualified expenses for 2024, you may be able to increase the amount of the credit you can take in 2025.” They add the way to do it: “Enter on line 9b the amount from line 13 of Worksheet A.”
The instructions give an example: “In 2024, you had childcare expenses of $2,600” for a child. The credit lines of the form are covered at Form 2441 lines 7 to 9c.
The worksheet line by line
| Line | What the worksheet says |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | “If you had qualified expenses for 2024 that you didn’t pay until 2025 and you didn’t claim a credit on the maximum amount of qualified expenses for 2024, you may be able to increase the amount of the credit you can take in 2025.” |
| Purpose | “Use this worksheet to figure the credit you may claim for 2024 expenses paid in 2025.” |
| 1 | “Enter the amount reported on your 2024 Form 2441, line 3” |
| 2 | “Enter your 2024 qualified expenses paid in 2025” |
| 3 | “Add the amounts on lines 1 and 2” |
| 4 | “Enter $3,000 if you had one qualifying person ($6,000 if you had two or more)” |
| 5 | “Enter any dependent care benefits received for 2024 and deducted on your return and/or excluded from your income” |
| 6 | “Subtract the amount on line 5 from the amount on line 4 and enter the result” |
| 7 | “Compare your earned income for 2024 and your spouse’s earned income for 2024 and enter the smaller amount” |
| 8 | “Compare the amounts on lines 3, 6, and 7, and enter the smallest amount” |
| 9 | “Enter the amount on which you figured the credit for 2024” |
| 10 | “Subtract the amount on line 9 from the amount on line 8 and enter the result.” “If zero or less, stop here.” “You can’t increase your 2025 credit by any previous year’s expenses” |
| 11 | “Enter your 2024 adjusted gross income” |
| 12 | “Find your 2024 adjusted gross income in the table below and enter the corresponding decimal amount here” |
| 13 | “Multiply line 10 by line 12 and enter the amount here and on Form 2441, line 9b” |
| Attach | “Attach to your tax return a copy of this worksheet or a statement explaining how you figured the credit for prior year expenses” |
The table under line 12 gives a decimal for each band of 2024 adjusted gross income. Its values are not reproduced here. Read the decimal from the table in your own instructions.
A worked example
Illustration, not an IRS example. Every input is invented, including the decimal on line 12, which in real life comes from the table in the instructions. The expense pattern follows the instructions’ own example of care costing $2,600, with $2,000 paid in 2024 and $600 paid in 2025.
| Item | Illustration |
|---|---|
| Line 1 (2024 Form 2441 line 3, the expenses paid and claimed in 2024) | $2,000 |
| Line 2 (2024 expenses paid in 2025) | $600 |
| Line 3, computed: line 1 plus line 2 | $2,600 (computed) |
| Line 4 (one qualifying person) | $3,000 |
| Line 5 (no dependent care benefits) | $0 |
| Line 6, computed: line 4 minus line 5 | $3,000 (computed) |
| Line 7 (the smaller of the two earned incomes, invented) | $30,000 |
| Line 8, computed: smallest of lines 3, 6 and 7 | $2,600 (computed) |
| Line 9 (amount the 2024 credit was figured on) | $2,000 |
| Line 10, computed: line 8 minus line 9 | $600 (computed) |
| Line 12 (suppose the table in the instructions gives a decimal of) | 0.20 |
| Line 13, computed: line 10 times line 12 | $120 (computed) |
Line 13 goes on Form 2441 line 9b. If line 10 had been zero or less, the worksheet would have stopped.
Where the number comes from
Line 1 and line 9 come from your 2024 Form 2441. Line 4 is the expense limit for the number of qualifying persons, covered with the current-year lines at Form 2441 lines 3 to 6. Dependent care benefits on line 5 are covered at Form 2441 lines 22 to 31.
Where it goes next
Line 13 is entered “on Form 2441, line 9b”. The worksheet also has to travel with the return: “Attach to your tax return a copy of this worksheet or a statement explaining how you figured the credit for prior year expenses”. The credit limit that follows is at the Credit Limit Worksheet. The credit reaches Form 1040 line 20, captioned “Amount from Schedule 3, line 8”.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads the Instructions for Form 2441 (2025), the current file irs.gov served on 2026-10-21 (sha256 in the kit data). The Worksheet A in it is for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. Check the tax year printed on the worksheet in your own instructions and use that year’s line numbers, because a different year’s worksheet can number or word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Trying to increase the credit by a year that was already maxed. Line 10 says “You can’t increase your 2025 credit by any previous year’s expenses”
- Using a table row from the wrong year. Line 12 reads “Find your 2024 adjusted gross income in the table below and enter the corresponding decimal amount here”
- Leaving out the attachment. The instructions say “Attach to your tax return a copy of this worksheet”
Related: Form 2441, Form 2441 lines 7 to 9c, Form 2441 lines 3 to 6, the Credit Limit Worksheet, and the dependent care credit.
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Answer againSources
- Instructions for Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i2441.pdf
- Form 1040 (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 21, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.